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 U. S. Congress. House. Committee on Labor. 
 Eight hours for women employed in District 
 of Columbia. 
 
 U.6 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL 
 
 OF 
 
 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR 
 
 RELATIONS 
 
 AT 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
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 EIGHT HOURS FOR WOMEN EMPLOYED IN 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 
 HEARINGS 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 COMMITTEE ON LABOR/OF THE HOUSE 
 OF REPRESENTATIVES 
 
 ON THE BILL 
 
 H. R. 27281 
 
 RELATING TO THE LIMITATION OF THE HOURS OF WOMEN 
 EMPLOYED IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 
 JANUARY 30 and FEBRUARY 6, 7, 8, 
 10, 11, and 12, 1913 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 1913 
 
COMMITTEE ON LABOR. 
 House of Repbesentatives. 
 
 WILLIAM B. WILSON, Pennsylvania. Chairman. 
 
 WALTER L. HENSLEY, Missouri 
 JAMES P. MAHER, New York. 
 ARTHUR B. ROUSE, Kentucky. 
 DAVID J. LEWIS, Maryland. 
 WILLIAM S. HOWARD, Georgia. 
 FRANK BUCH*NAN, Illinois. 
 
 PINLY H. GRAY, Indiana. 
 JOHN J. GARDNER, New Jersey. 
 EDWARD B. VREELAND, New York. 
 J. M. C. SMITH, Michigan. 
 WILLIS C. HAWLEY, Oregon. 
 WILLIAM S. VARE, Pennsylvania. 
 Agnes H. Wilson, Clerk. 
 
EIGHT HOURS FOR WOMEN EMPLOYED IN THE DISTRICT OF 
 
 COLUMBIA. 
 
 Committee on Labor, 
 
 House of Representatives, 
 
 January SO, 1913. 
 The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. William B. Wilson 
 (chairman) presiding. 
 
 The Chairman. The committee has met this morning for the pur- 
 pose of hearing statements in connection with House bill 27281, a 
 bill to regulate the hours of employment and to safeguard the health 
 of females employed in the District of Columbia, and so forth, and 
 the committee will first hear from Mr. Peters, the author of the bill. 
 
 STATEMENT OF HON. ANDREW J. PETERS, A REPRESENTATIVE 
 IN CONGRESS FROM MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Mr. Peters. Mr. Chairman, we are here to urge favorable consid- 
 eration by your committee of House bill 27281, a bill to regulate the 
 hours of employment and safeguard the health of females employed 
 in the District of Columbia in any mill, factory, manufacturing es- 
 tablishment, or workshop, laundry, bakery, printing, clothing, dress- 
 making, or millinery establishment, mercantile establishment, store, 
 hotel, restaurant, office, or where any goods are sold or distributed, 
 or by any express or transportation company, or in the transmission 
 or distribution of telegraph or telephone messages or merchandise. 
 That is a somewhat long title, Mr. Chairman, but I think it indicates 
 quite clearly the object of the bill and shows the real scope and effect 
 of the legislation proposed. 
 
 The Chairman. May I ask, Mr. Peters, if the occupations enumer- 
 ated include all gainful occupations outside of domestic service? 
 
 Mr. Peters. That is the intention, Mr. Chairman, to include every- 
 thing outside of domestic service. It provides that no female shall 
 be employed or permitted to work in any of the industries or occu- 
 pations outside of domestic service, as you have suggested, for more 
 than 8 hours in any one day, or more than 6 days in a week, or more 
 than 48 hours in any one week, and that no female under 18 years of 
 age shall be employed or permitted to work in connection with any 
 of the establishments named in the first section of the act before the 
 hour of 7 o'clock in the morning or after the hour of 6 o'clock in the 
 evening of any one day. . It is not necessary for me to detain the 
 committee by reading the whole bill. I think I have indicated in 
 what I have said pretty clearly its general provisions. 
 
 PROPERTY OF LIBRARY 3 
 
 NEW YORK STATE SCHflDL 
 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS 
 
4 HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The committee no doubt knows that there are 30 different States 
 that have some kind of factory laws relative to the' employment of 
 women. There still remain a few States which stand forth in unen- 
 viable contrast, and I regret to say that one of those localities is the 
 District of Columbia, which comes particularly under the care and 
 protection of Congress itself. The only law in the District which 
 Congress has enacted to protect women in employment is the provi- 
 sion that there shall be a reasonable number of seats provided for the 
 girls and women when they are not waiting on customers. 
 
 The Chairman. That would only apply in the case of mercantile 
 establishments ? 
 
 Mr. Peters. Yes ; as I understand it, that would only apply in the 
 mercantile establishments. So it seems to be apparent that if the 
 Federal Government is to keep pace with the States it must take a 
 long step ahead of its present position. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do you not think the Federal Government ought 
 to take the lead? 
 
 Mr. Peters. I think so, decidedly; and instead of lagging behind 
 Congress ought to enact a statute that would be in itself a model, 
 because it is the leading legislative body, and, in addition to estab- 
 lishing a worthy precedent, it should enact a law to give the people 
 protection for their own sake. 
 
 There is a bill now, which is in conference between the two Houses, 
 which, if enacted, will prohibit the Government and contractors 
 doing work for this Government from employing men more than 
 eight hours per day, and it seems that it is only fair to ask our- 
 selves that if Congress will pass a law of that nature why should it 
 not pass a law granting similar protection to women — women who 
 much more need its protection. 
 
 Three States stand out as having adopted an eight-hour law for 
 women, and those States are California, Colorado, and Washington. 
 In the bill which you have before you. Mr. Chairman, and which is 
 presented at the instance of the National Consumers' League, there 
 has been embodied the best features of the laws of these three 
 States, and the attempt has been made to consolidate them into a 
 measure which it is hoped will prove a model measure, and which 
 will stimulate similar action by the various States. 
 
 I do not need to call the attention of the committee to the general 
 policy of legislation for the protection of workingmen, and the 
 protection of women and children in particular. Many of the States 
 have recognized the necessity for protecting their citizens from the 
 greed of manufacturers and from the greed of employers for a 
 number of years. From the commencement of the last century 
 we have seen the slow,, unfortunately slow, but steady growth of 
 public opinion, putting through one law after another, from the 
 commencement of the factory laws in England down to the laws 
 which have been enacted in the last 10 years in this country. While 
 the spread of the enactment of proper factory laws in the several 
 States has not been as rapid as we should like, vet in many of the 
 States there has been shown a commendable response to public senti- 
 ment. My own State of Massachusetts has shown this, and it is 
 particularly interesting to me to have this matter come up here 
 When I was in the Massachusetts State Senate, I was on the com- 
 mittee on the relations of the employer and employee, and sat in 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 5 
 
 extended hearings relative to the law which was before us for the 
 protection of women in mercantile establishments in the city of 
 Boston, a bill very similar to this one, but one which, I am frank 
 to say, was not as good as this bill, but which, after considerable 
 effort, we got through, and which persons have told me has proved 
 not only a help to the women, but the mercantile establishments them- 
 selves recognize its justice, and say they would not care to go back 
 to the conditions which prevailed there before this law was enacted. 
 Of course, Washington is not a factory city, and it is recognized 
 that it is not; still the problem of the employment of women and 
 children is a 'very considerable one to the citizens of Washington. 
 Because there are few factories here, it does not by any means follow 
 that there are no abuses and that there is no need to protect the 
 citizens of the District. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I want to call your attention to a few facts which 
 have been covered in a preliminary report which has been compiled 
 by the Department of Commerce and Labor relative to hours, earn- 
 ings, and duration of employment of wage-earning women in the 
 District of Columbia. That department is making a series of re- 
 ports on the subject of the employment of women and children. 
 While the report concerning conditions in the District of Columbia 
 has not yet been published, through the courtesy of the department 
 I had an opportunity to look into the report, and want to call the 
 committee's attention to one or two of the statements in it, and 
 wish to say further that Miss Obenauer, who has compiled the report, 
 is here tQ-day and prepared to answer the questions of the committee 
 in regard to any of its contents. 
 
 The first division of this report deals with the employees of the 
 retail stores.' The report of the investigator shows that the average 
 hours of employment in the retail stores of the District of Columbia 
 were front 9 to 9-|- hours, considerably in excess of the 8-hour day, 
 which we propose to provide for in our bill, and considerably in 
 excess of the hours which the men are allowed to work who are em- 
 ployed by the Government. If Congress provides a limitation for 
 men in Government employ to eight hours a day there is certainly, 
 Mr. Chairman, every reason why the women in the District should 
 be protected in regard to the number of hours during which they 
 can be employed. The report shows that the retail stores constitute 
 the largest employers of women. The chief objections to be met in 
 store work are due to overtime work during the holiday season and 
 in the long hours every Saturday throughout the greater part of 
 the year. 
 
 The Christmas season brings to the hearts of most of our citi- 
 zens very definitely a feeling of rest and happiness, but there is 
 one class of people to whom it brings feelings of tremendous strain 
 and overwork and suffering, and those are the people who work in 
 the stores and meet the great increase in the demand on the employees 
 which comes during the holiday season. It is perfectly practicable 
 to meet this demand by increasing the number of employees in the 
 stores, and it has been done successfully by employers in my own 
 State, which I called to the attention of the chairman a few moments 
 ago. This is not done, and apparently it will not be done, here unless 
 the employers are in some way forced to do it. 
 
6 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Chairman. You think unless the employers are in some way 
 forced to do it, it will not be done? 
 
 Mr. Peters, I do. Approximately 70 per cent of all the w ° m en 
 examined by the investigator who were employed in the stores of the 
 District of Columbia worked overtime during the week before Christ- 
 mas ; approximately 69 per cent of those examined who worked over- 
 time at Christmas were employed 70 hours or oyer during that 
 week. Thirty-one per cent of this number worked from 75 to 80 
 hours. It is therefore evident that by far a greater proportion ot 
 the women workers in the stores are subjected to a tremendous 
 hardship a short time before Christmas. This investigation fur- 
 ther showed that the hours of some of these employees were from 
 14 to 15 hours on the day before Christmas. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Where was that? 
 
 Mr. Peteks. In the District of Columbia. The detailed infor- 
 mation gathered by this investigation, and which will be included 
 in this report, has not been published, but I have a good deal of it 
 here. During this Christmas rush, Mr. Chairman, that the women 
 were working over time 31 per cent of them were working about 75 
 hours a week, while the men in the employ of the Government were 
 still protected in their 8-hour day. 
 
 The other characteristic objection in the retail stores is in regard 
 to the long hours on Saturday, and this report shows that 58 per 
 cent of the employees who were examined by the investigator worked 
 from 11 to 12 hours every Saturday in the year except a short time 
 during the summer. It may also be of interest to know that of 
 2,670 girls in these department stores in the District the largest 
 single group, constituting 16.7 per cent of the whole, received from 
 M to $5 for their work. Of 193 personally scheduled and reporting 
 as working over time, 91.7 per cent got no extra pay for this work. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You mean they received four or five dollars a 
 week? 
 
 Mr. Peters. Yes, sir ; that was the pay of the largest single group, 
 constituting 16 per cent of the whole. 
 
 The manufacturing and mercantile establishments, according to the 
 last census, employed 828 women in the District of Columbia. On 
 the whole, their condition, so far as I learn from this report, seems 
 to be rather good. Fifty-five and one-tenth per cent of the 147 
 women scheduled work from 48 to 51 hours a week. On the other 
 hand it was found that 40 per cent of those reporting overtime to 
 the examiner worked on an average from 65 to 75 hours, and 32 
 per cent from 60 to 64 hours. I wish to add that in laundries 47.7 
 per cent of the women scheduled in this report worked 55 to 59 
 hours per week. Fifty-four and five-tenths per cent of these women 
 work 10 hours per day for at least four days in the week. In the 
 busy season, 44.7 per cent of the women reporting overtime were 
 employed 12 hours per day. It must be kept in mind that this law 
 will not affect employment where the hours are reasonable, and it is 
 only aimed at those instances where there are excessive hours and 
 where they will continue to be excessive until the employer is com- 
 pelled by legislation to give his people proper conditions. 
 
 It is only fair to the employer, Mr. Chairman, to say that there 
 are mercantile establishments which do give their employees proper 
 consideration, and it may be assumed that they are therefore at a 
 
HOUBS OF LABOB FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 7 
 
 disadvantage with their less scrupulous and less enlightened com- 
 petitors. 
 
 The other main division of women employed in the District of 
 Columbia includes those in hotels, restaurants, and miscellaneous 
 .establishments. Here the chief abuse lies in the seven-day week, 
 with little or no recreation. The report shows that about one-third 
 of these women had a maximum day of 12 hours though the normal 
 day was shorter. The particular abuse which exists is the fact 
 that the employment continues every day in the week. I need 
 not take up the time of the committee to any great extent, because 
 there are numbers of people here who wish to contribute the benefit 
 of their judgment and experience to the committee this morning, 
 people from different parts of the country, many of them known 
 personally and all by reputation, and whose study and work on the 
 problems involved in the employment of women and children are 
 far greater and their experience far more extended than mine. I 
 wish to impress on the committee, however, the fact which I believe 
 is the strongest one in favor of this bill — the fact that this District 
 now stands in the unenviable position of being far behind the 
 majority of the States of the Union in enacting legislation for the 
 protection of women and children, and that we as Members of Con- 
 gress, who have placed on us the responsibility for legislating for 
 this District, should provide for it the best code of laws possible 
 and the greatest protection for its citizens, not only in justice to 
 them, but so that the laws of the District of Columbia can be pointed 
 to with pride and will, in themselves, form a stimulus and encour- 
 agement to the enactment of laws of this kind in the various States. 
 
 The Chairman. Before you leave the discussion of this bill I 
 would like to point out the fact that in section 1 you provide that 
 the women and children shall not be permitted to work more than 
 8 hours in any one day, or more than 6 days, or more than 48 hours 
 in any one week. In a recent investigation or hearing held by this 
 committee it was- shown that in certain occupations people were em- 
 ployed and kept on duty for from 14 to 16 hours per day, and yet in 
 that 14 to 16 hours they were only required to work 7 or 8 hours 
 
 Ser day, although they were on duty during the entire 14 or 16 hours, 
 ow, might not that condition arise here in the hotel and restaurant 
 service, where employees would be on duty for 14 or 16 hours and 
 not be required to work more than 8 hours, and come within the 
 provisions of this law. Do you not think the bill should be amended 
 so as to make the 8 hours continuous, with, say an hour's intermis- 
 sion for lunch, and that the work must be performed within 9 hours 
 from the beginning of the service? 
 
 Mr. Peters. Well, Mr. Chairman, the provisions of the bill are 
 that no female shall be employed or be permitted to work in any 
 mill, factory, manufacturing or mechanical establishment or work- 
 shop, bakery, printing, clothing, dressmaking, or millinery estab- 
 lishment, or mercantile establishement, store, hotel, restaurant, office, 
 or where any goods are sold or distributed, or by any express or 
 transportation company, or in the transmission or distribution of 
 telegraph or telephone messages, or merchandise, more than 8 hours 
 in any one day, or more than 6 days, or more than 48 hours in any 
 one week. I should be inclined to think that that wording would 
 
8 HOURS OF LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 cover that; certainly, I think, that your idea should be carried out 
 most clearly. . , . 
 
 The Chairman. Suppose that in connection with the preparation 
 and serving of breakfast that 2£ hours were required, the same in 
 connection with lunch, and the same in connection with dinner, you. 
 would then have 1\ hours of actual work in the day. 
 
 The Chairman. That, if continued for 6 days, will give you less 
 than 48 hours of work, but those who are employed in that service 
 would naturally have to be on duty in the interim between breakfast 
 and lunch and between lunch and dinner although not engaged in 
 actual work. They would practically be on duty the entire length 
 of time. Now, this bill would not cover a condition of that kind, 
 would it? 
 
 Mr. Peters. Not unless the word "employ" would be construed 
 to cover that, and that the detention of them in a hotel would amount 
 to employment. I should think it would be doubtful; I should be 
 inclined to think it would be better to add some provision to cover 
 that. 
 
 The Chairman. Has it not been your experience that the courts 
 in construing a bill of this kind construe it to give the least posssible 
 advantage to the workers which their construction can give? 
 
 Mr. Peters. There are some very unfortunate interpretations of 
 some of the labor legislation in regard to the hours of work. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. I would suggest that the last appropriation bill for the 
 Post Office Department provides for the number of hours of em- 
 ployees in that department, that they shall not be required to work 
 more than 8 hours in any 24. That is right along this line. 
 
 Mr. Gray. I just want to ask Mr. Peters if he makes any provision 
 as to the smallest wage that is to be paid ? 
 
 Mr. Peters. There is no provision for a minimum wage. 
 
 Mr. Grat. You leave that to be perfected by the contract between 
 the parties? 
 
 Mr. Peters. Yes. It was not thought desirable to put such a pro- 
 vision as that in the bill. 
 
 Mr. Gray. You would not give them protection in the matter of 
 the kind of contract that may be made ; I mean, so far as wages are 
 concerned ? 
 
 Mr. Peters. There would not be any protection as regards the 
 amount of wages in this bill. This bill would affect purely the hours 
 of labor. 
 
 Mr. Gray. The wages to be determined by the contract of the par- 
 ties? 
 
 Mr. Peters. Yes. It was felt that that was a separate matter, and 
 however desirable it might be, an attempt to add that to this bill 
 would very seriously jeopardize its passage at this time. 
 
 Mr. Gray. It would not be very much benefit if the compensation 
 was reduced to meet the reduction in the hours of labor. The women 
 would not be very much benefited in that way. 
 
 Mr. Peters. I think that their compensation would be governed 
 by demand and supply, on which this legislation would probably 
 have little or no effect ; for experience has shown that the reduction 
 of hours from 9 to 8 has not been generally followed by a reduction 
 in wages. 
 
•HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 9» 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I would like to state in that connection that, al- 
 most without exception, so far as organized laboi is concerned, the- 
 reduction of hours has resulted in an increase of wages, and not in a 
 reduction. 
 
 Mr. Gray. That is where you have an organization. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. That was due to the strength of the organization. 
 to some extent. 
 
 Mr. Peters. Mr. Chairman, I wish to append to my remarks cer- 
 tain extracts from a recent book by Miss Josephine Goldmark, entitled 
 'Fatigue and Efficiency/' in support of the constitutionality of laws 
 similar to the one proposed in the bill now pending. 
 
 THE " FREEDOM OF CONTRACT " THEORY. 
 
 It is a fact of common knowledge that after our Civil War. the fourteenth 
 amendment of the Federal Constitution was adopted, and similar provisions in- 
 the State constitutions, declaring that " no State shall deprive anv person of 
 life, liberty, or property without due process of law." 
 
 The "freedom of contract" assumption has so vitally affected the very 
 existence of the laws in which we are concerned that we may well glance at the- 
 six or seven most important decisions of superior courts on' the subject handed 
 down during the last 16 years, between 1895 and 1911. 
 
 The fallacy of this thesis has been of late so much discussed that it need 
 not delay us long. It is coming to be recognized that since employees do not 
 stand upon an equality in bargaining power with their employers the so-called 
 " right " to contract for a day of any length is purely theoretical. The worker 
 in fact obeys the compulsion of circumstance. No one can suppose that young 
 women working in the box factories of Chicago, discussed in a previous chap- 
 ter, need or desire to be protected in their " right " to labor overtime nine 
 months in the year, or that women in laundries should be "free" to work 14 
 hours or more during several days of the week. They have, in fact, no choice 
 or freedom in the matter. The alternative is to work or starve. To refuse 
 means to be dismissed. Modern industry has reduced "freedom of contract" 
 to a paper privilege, a mere figure of rhetoric. 
 
 The first Ritchie case. — Yet this was precisely the ground upon which the 
 judges of the Illinois Supreme Court in 1895 declared invalid an Illinois 8-hour 
 law for women employed in factories. In what is known as the first Ritchie- 
 case 1 they declared that the police power of the State did not sanction such 
 an interference with the working hours of adult women. There was no "fair, 
 just, and reasonable connection between such limitation and the public health, 
 safety, or welfare proposed to be secured by it." Hence the law was declared: 
 unconstitutional, and for 13 years — until this decision was practically over- 
 ruled by the United States Supreme Court in 1908 — it retarded the movement 
 for the protection of working women in all our States. 
 
 The case of Holden v. ffartfi/.— Curiously enough, three years after the deci- 
 sion in the Ritchie case, a law limiting men's hours of labor was carried to- 
 the Federal Supreme Court at Washington and was sustained. 2 This case in- 
 volved the validity of the Utah law fixing an 8-hour day for men employed in 
 mines and smelters. The court handed down a decision which has become 
 almost a classic in its clear statement of the broad principles at issue. It is. 
 true that the employments regulated were clearly dangerous to the health, 
 safety, and welfare. Therefore the limitation of hours was more obviously 
 justifiable under the police power. Indeed, the court based its favorable deci- 
 sion on the fact that work in mines and smelters was not like ordinary employ- 
 ment, but that the operative was " * * * deprived of fresh air and. sunlight 
 and is subject to the foul atmosphere and a very high temperature, or to the 
 influence of noxious gases." 
 
 But the judges dealt not only with the hazards of these employments. They 
 struck a loftier note, which rises clear and strong above the technical argu- 
 ment. They were preoccupied with something larger than the single law in dis- 
 pute. It was the State which figured before them — a congregate whole which 
 was only as great as " the sum of all its parts." These parts, they said in 
 
 1 Ritchie v People (155 III., 98; 1895). 
 
 2 Holden v. Hardy (165 U. S., 366; 1898). 
 
10 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
 
 stirring words, did not stand upon an equality with one another in the economic 
 scale, and therein lay both the need and the justification of the States inter 
 
 Ve "BTt the fad that both parties are of full age, and competent ^ to contract, 
 does not. necessarily deprive the State of the power to ^Z^L^IsiZt 
 parties do not stand upon an equality, or where the public health Remand 8 that 
 on party to the contract shall be protected against himself rhe State , still 
 retains an interest in his welfare, however reckless he may be ■ The whole is 
 no greater than the sum of all the parts, and when the mdiwdual health, 
 safetv, and welfare are sacrificed or neglected the State must sutler. 
 
 It is significant, as the court pointed out also in this decision, that such ^ cases 
 as the one at bar have not been brought by working people eager to secure 
 their "right" to labor any number of hours, but by the employeis .to_ whose 
 advantage it is for them so to labor. " The argument," said the court, would 
 certainly come with better grace and better cogency from the other class 
 
 These two decisions, then, set forth clearly the issue between personal liberty • 
 and the police power. In the Ritchie decision the judges set a theoretical free- 
 dom above concrete realities. In Holden v. Hardy the law appeared to be 
 justified by its necessity. 
 
 In defending the cases which we have reviewed up to this point, tne argu- 
 ments and citations of the lawyers had been almost wholly confined to the 
 purely legal aspects of those actions. Briefs of counsel had discussed in in- 
 finite detail the power. But the point at issue had, in fact, wholly shifted 
 from relation between the fourteenth amendment and the police the State's 
 abstract right to restrict individual rights to the practical necessity for every 
 such restriction. The question was no longer abstract and legal, but rather in 
 a deep sense social and medical. It followed that the purely legal defense of 
 these laws was falling wide of the mark. It had long been unreasonable to 
 expect that judges, trained in schools remote from factories and workshops, 
 should be conversant witli those underlying practices and conditions which 
 alone could justly weight the scales. The men upon the bench needed for their 
 guidance the empirical testimony of the working woman's physician, the fac- 
 tory inspector, and the economist. They needed, in a word, to know the facts. 
 
 The Oregon enxc and a twir line of defense. — Such an opportunity offered In 
 the very same year. A laundryman was arrested for violation of the Oregon 
 law fixing a 10-hour day for women employed in factories and laundries. The 
 validity of the law was affirmed by the Oregon courts, and in December, 1907, 
 an appeal was taken to the United States Supreme Court at Washington. Here, 
 then, was an opportunity to present the real issue to the highest court in the 
 land, concerned for the first time in its history with a statute limiting the 
 woikday of adult women. 
 
 The document was made up from the accumulated mass of British and Con- 
 tinental factory inspectors' reports, commissions, and enquetes. as well as the 
 observations of medical men and economists. It was well received by the 
 court, which in its decision upheld the validity of the Oregon law. Quoting 
 from the new empirical evidence contained in the brief, the court stated that 
 it " took judicial cognizance of all matters of general knowledge," thus in a 
 single phrase warranting the new emphasis upon practical data. 1 
 
 The decision in the Oregon case was indeed no narrow victory. It was the 
 most sweeping decision ever rendered by the Federal Supreme Court in relation 
 to working hours. It was not confined to the consideration of the 10-hour day 
 or to a working day of any particular length. It left to the States the liberty 
 to determine what working hours were wholesome and reasonable. It went far 
 beyond the statute at issue, which dealt with the employment of women in 
 factories and laundries, and looked toward the protection of women in other 
 employments. In a word, the highest court of the Nation rejected the fiction of 
 the free coutract as regards the working woman and declared that " her phys- 
 ical nature and the evil effects of overwork upon her and her future children 
 justify legislation to protect her from the greed as well as the passion of men." 
 The new method of defense had amply justified itself. 
 
 The second Kiivhic ease. — It was again to be put into practice and again to 
 be justified in the following year (1909), immediately after the auspicious 
 Oregon decision had in principle reversed the earlier Ritchie decision of the 
 Illinois Supreme Court. The way was now open for laws protecting women from 
 overwork, and many States enacted such legislation. Among others, the Illinois 
 
 1 Sue pt. 2, p. VS. 
 
HOUKS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 11 
 
 Legislature of 1909 provided a 10-hour day for women employed in laundries 
 and factories. Hence, 14 years after the first Ritchie decision a new law was 
 carried up to the Illinois Supreme Court for its adjudication. 1 
 
 „A wholly new bench of judges were sitting in the case. The widespread 
 public curiosity throughout Illinois as to the outcome of this case bore witness 
 to a new recognition of the large issues at stake, not only to women in industry, 
 but to the State. The court in sustaining the 10-hour law was not deterred as 
 the same court had been 14 years before by the freedom of contract theory. 
 All that body of " general knowledge " which the Federal judges had taken 
 into cognizance was again admitted to carry its due weight. In a single illumi- 
 nating sentence the Illinois court also responded to the new emphasis upon the 
 substantial and substantiated facts, remarking "what we know as men we 
 can not profess to be ignorant of as judges." 
 
 THE DISTINCTIONS OF SEX. 
 
 Kow, among these facts known to all men and presented to the court were the 
 ill effects of industrial speeding, strain, and the like, upon working women, qua 
 women. Their physical organization, the greater morbidity of working women 
 compared with men in the same occupations, and the dependence of future 
 generations upon the health of women — all had been dwelt upon to justify the 
 legal restriction of their hours. This was because the earlier decisions over- 
 throwing the validity of women's labor laws had denied any special protection 
 to women " on the mere fact of sex." Women were citizens ; hence their con- 
 tructural powers could not be disturbed. Indeed, the New York Court of Ap- 
 peals went so far as to say in the face of civilized precedent that " an adult 
 woman is not to be regarded * * * in any other light than the man is re- 
 garded when the question relates to the business pursuit or calling." 
 
 This specious argument and the alleged impossibility of differentiating be- 
 tween men and women was, indeed, long an obstacle in the way of securing 
 women's laws. Thus in England between 1874 and 1901 the factory acts were 
 in the main opposed by an important wing of the women's rights party. Super- 
 ficially viewed, the great movement to obtain for women in all fields rights 
 from which they have been debarred, might appear inconsistent with the efforts 
 to protect one sex as contrasted with the other. But this is a fundamental 
 misconception. It ignores the fact that protection of health has never been 
 held a bar to the efficiency of men as citizens. 
 
 It has yet to be suggested, for instance, that the miners of 13 States — Arizona, 
 California, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, 
 Oklahoma, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming — are discriminated against, be- 
 cause the State restricts their working hours to S in 1 day 2 for the explicit 
 purpose of protecting the health of its citizens. It has yet to be suggested that 
 the interstate railroad telegraphers are less valuable as citizens than any other 
 men because Congress in 1907 restricted their work to 13 hours by day and 9 
 hours by night. This statute and similar restrictions in many States were 
 enacted nominally to safeguard the traveling public. But its only excuse for 
 being is the effect of excessive hours upon the operative's efficiency. These 
 restrictions upon men's working hours have never interfered with their value 
 or dignity as citizens. Why, then, should similar restrictions — wider and more 
 inclusive for women— operate against their dignity or value as citizens? Their 
 physical endowments and special functions make the protection of their health 
 even more necessary than the protection of men's health ; they need even more 
 than men the legislative protection which, as Justice Brewer said in the Oregon 
 case, " is designed to compensate for some of tiie burdens which rest upon " 
 them. 
 
 It is true that, as we have seen, the restriction of men's hours of labor has 
 been upheld by the courts only when the occupations sought to be regulated are 
 manifestly dangerous to health, such as mines and smelters, or where public 
 safety is directly concerned, as in railroading. Yet in so far as prohibition of 
 excessive hours for men has been justified by dangers resulting to their health 
 and efficiency, the argument for more inclusive women's laws is precisely 
 similar. 
 
 i Ritchie & Co., i. Waymann (244 III., 509, 1910). 
 
 » Tot [hours in 1 day in Maryland, applying to Allegany and Garrett Counties. 
 
12 HOUES OF LABOB FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTBICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MISS MAUD YOUNGER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
 
 Mi*. Peters. Mr. Chairman. I now desire to present to the com- 
 mittee Miss Maud Younger, of California. 
 
 The Chairman. Please state for the record your name and address. 
 
 Miss Younger: Maud Younger, 2008 Lyon Street, San Francisco. 
 
 The 8-hour law for woman took effect in California on the 21st 
 of May, 1911. Since then 20 months have elapsed, and upon the 
 ground of actual experience we can now say with Mark Twain that 
 the objections to this measure are all in the nature of prophecies 
 which have never come true when tried, for many objections were 
 raised, and dire disaster was prophesied should the 8-hour bill become 
 law. 
 
 First, there was the objection to giving the women 1 day's rest 
 in 7. This objection came from those enterprises which were in 
 operation every day in the year, as telegraph, telephone, and trans- 
 portation companies, and hotels which said " Our guests eat 7 days in 
 the week," and condensed-milk factories which cried, " Cows give 
 milk on Sunday as well as week days." But since the law has gone 
 into effect all these enterprises have been able to adjust themselves 
 by the simple method of employing one extra relief girl to every six 
 previously employed; that is, she relieves A on Monday, B on Tues- 
 day, C on Wednesday, and so on. Consequently it is merely a ques- 
 tion of expense due to the employment of additional women. 
 
 Then there were other employers who did not object to the 6-day 
 week, but to the 8-hour day. First came the retail merchants. They 
 said their stores were open from 8 in the morning until 6 at night, or 
 
 10 hours a day. However, since the passage of the bill they have been 
 able to adjust themselves to the law by having part of their force 
 work from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon and part from 9 
 until 6, with 1 hour for lunch. 
 
 The laundries also objected to the 8-hour day, though not to the 48- 
 hour week. They said that on Monday morning the drivers collect 
 the wash, so that the girls did not come until noon, which necessitated 
 longer hours on other days. Since the law has gone into effect, how- 
 ever, they have been able to adjust themselves by having the girls 
 come on Mondays at noon and work until 9 at night, with 1 hour for 
 supper. The San Francisco laundries incidentally already had a 48- 
 hour week, owing to the union; but the workers said it had cost them 
 
 11 weeks' strike and $60,000. They thought that an 8-hour day 
 through legislation would be simpler and more economical, also far 
 less inconvenient to the public in general. 
 
 Then it was objected to that there was no provision for overtime or 
 rush seasons. On this subject a little cracker packer spoke at the 
 public hearing in our State senate. 
 
 She told of her work, 9 hours a day, standing at the end of a can- 
 vas chute down which the crackers came so fast that she had to 
 pack, pack, without turning her head — pack without moving aside 
 unless some one were there to replace her or the crackers would go all 
 over the floor. Then sometimes, after the day's work was over and 
 there were rush orders, she must work overtime, 2 or 3 hours perhaps. 
 She said that though the girls were paid for overtime they would 
 rather give up the extra pay than to have the wear and strain that 
 
HOUBS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 13 
 
 esulted from the extra work. She said that the day after they were 
 10 tired that even shorter hours could not make up for the strain 
 mder which they filled the rush orders. A short time after the law 
 vent into effect I met this same girl on the street and asked how the 
 aw was working. She said the girls practically did as much in the 8 
 lours as they had previously done in 9, because they were so much 
 iresher when they went to work in the morning. She said also that 
 here was no difficulty in filling the rush orders. 
 
 Then, it was objected that there was no provision for special sea- 
 ions. Here came the department stores again, with their Christmas 
 season when they remain open at night. However, they have been 
 ible to adjust themselves to this law by having part of their force 
 :ome at noon or at 1 and remain until 10 in the evening, with 1 or 
 ! hours for supper. The owner of one department store told me that, 
 hough this involved an additional expense, that the eight-hour law 
 lad proved very satisfactory, owing to the greater efficiency of the 
 jirls. He said that previously, under the long hours, the girls had 
 jroken down and it had been necessary to replace them and to train 
 lew girls during the terrible holiday rush, but that, under the eight- 
 lour law, every girl had remained at her post throughout the entire 
 season, and the law had thus been of benefit to the merchants them- 
 selves. In a letter which Mr. Harris Weinstock, one of our best 
 mown merchants, wrote while the bill was before our legislature, he 
 ;aid : " In some of the mercantile enterprises in which I am interested 
 ve have been working on an eight-hour basis for women with every 
 satisfaction to them and to ourselves. If the eight-hour day in mer- 
 cantile establishments is made a common condition in California, 
 ncluding the Christmas holiday season, it will work no hardship 
 ipon the employer, it will be a blessing to the woman worker, and 
 vill tend to make for a higher degree of efficiency on her part." 
 
 Then came other trades with other seasons. The candy men 
 claimed three seasons — Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July. 
 Sach trade seemed to have a special season, and each predicted ca- 
 amity should the bill become a law. 
 
 However, notwithstanding all the opposition, and this bill was the 
 lardest fought of the entire session, public sentiment was so strong 
 hat the bill went through with only five dissenting votes in the en- 
 ire legislature. Since it has become a law the opponents have adapted 
 hemselves very readily to the change. I have talked with many of 
 hem — owners of department stores, hotel men, manufacturers — and 
 hey have all said that the law was not at all terrible, as they sup- 
 )osed it would be, and they would not again oppose it. 
 
 It was also objected, in behalf of the girls themselves, that wages 
 vould be reduced. I have asked very generally, but have found only 
 wo or three instances of this kind. One was a girl who had stood 
 >ehind a counter nine hours a day for three days a week and the other 
 hree days she had worked from 8 in the morning until 1.1 at night. 
 ?or this she had received $9 a week. After the law went into effect 
 
 asked if her wages had been reduced and she said, " Oh, yes ; a 
 lollar a week; but I don't mind; I'm glad to give up the extra pay 
 or the sake of the shorter hours." 
 
 Then it was objected that women would be replaced by men 
 ¥e see, however, that the only adjustment that has been necessary 
 ince the law went into effect has not been the displacing, of women, 
 
14 HOURS OF LABOB FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 but rather the employment of more. This has meant an additional- 
 expense, but we know that the expense in the end is not borne by 
 the employers, but by the public; and it is an expense which we in 
 California' bear very willingly for the sake of a healthier, happier 
 womanhood. This greater expense is, moreover, made up to a large 
 extent by the greater efficiency of the girls. 
 
 This eight-hour law has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Cali- 
 fornia. The decision was unanimous. The test case was that of a 
 hotel waitress. Now, it has been proved by means of a pedometer 
 that a waitress who works 10 hours a day walks 10 miles a day. In 
 some hotels there were girls working 12 and 14 hours, yet I believe 
 the United States Government allows its mules to walk only 13 
 miles a day. 
 
 I am going to close by taking you into a hotel. In this case it is 
 in the laundry of one of the large hotels of southern California. It 
 is the 22d of March, 1911, eight days after the bill, having passed 
 the legislature, had reached the governor. The girls were working 
 in the laundry 14 hours a day. As they passed the irons wearily 
 over the clothes they discussed the bill, with its prospects of relief. 
 They said, " No; the governor won't sign it. They'll never let him. 
 Its too much to hope for." And they worked on hopelessly. Sud- 
 denly the door opened. A girl burst in, waving an afternoon news- 
 paper and shouting, " Girls, he's signed it, he's signed it ! The eight- 
 hour bill is law." At once there was pandemonium. The girls 
 laughed and sang and danced and shouted. Suddenly some one 
 cried, " Look at Julia and Nellie ! They've fainted ! " Yes ; they 
 had fainted. The relief, so longed for, so hardly expected, had 
 come, and coming, overwhelmed them. They had dropped at their 
 posts. 
 
 Now, it had been objected that the women themselves opposed the 
 passage of this bill, but there were scenes of this kind throughout 
 California when the eight-hour day became law. 
 
 These laundry girls had worked 14 hours a day, but I am going 
 to close with the words of one girl who had worked only 9. She 
 said, " You don't know what that extra hour means to me. Why, I 
 never knew what heaven was until we got the eight-hour law." 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You stated that in one case there had been a re- 
 duction in wages of $1 a week? 
 
 Miss Younger. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What was the salary? 
 
 Miss Younger. The salary had been nine and it was reduced to 
 eight. 
 
 The Chairman. In section 2 of this bill it is provided that no 
 female under 18 years of age shall be employed or permitted to work 
 in any of the establishments named in section 1 before the hour of 
 7 o'clock in the morning or after the hour of 6 o'clock in the evening. 
 I understand from your statement that some of these establish- 
 ments in California have adjusted themselves to the conditions under 
 the new law there by having some of their employees come at noon, 
 or in the afternoon, and remain until 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening, 
 as the case may be. Does the law in California exclude the employ- 
 ment of females under 18 years of age after six o'clock in the 
 evening ? 
 
 IVTiss ~Y r nTT'vrorT> "Vr> • if rlnoo v»^f 
 
HOUKS OP LABOK FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 15 
 
 The Chairman. Consequently, they would not be required 'to em- 
 ploy after 6 o'clock in the evening, in adjusting themselves to the 
 requirements of the new law, women more than 18 years of age; 
 they might employ younger persons then under your law ? 
 
 Miss Younger. Yes. There was no prohibition of night work at 
 all, but I believe that most of the girls, except the cash girls in the 
 department stores, are over 18 years of age. Certainly those in the 
 laundries. 
 
 Mr. Peters. You approve of this provision in section 2 ? 
 
 Miss Younger. Yes, sir. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MRS. FLORENCE KELLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., 
 REPRESENTING THE NATIONAL CONSUMERS' LEAGUE. 
 
 Mr. Peters. Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Kelley has come from New York 
 to talk about this bill. 
 
 The Chairman. Give your name and address for the record. 
 
 Mrs. Kelley. Florence Kelley. My address is 106 East Nineteenth 
 Street, New York City; general secretary of the National Con- 
 sumers' League. 
 
 I wish to call the attention of the committee to one objection 
 which I think is quite sure to be made before the discussion ends 
 and the bill is adopted and signed. It is one that we have heard in 
 every State in regard to legislation like this, namely, that where one 
 State or district goes rather far ahead of the adjacent territory in 
 legislation such as this there is a danger of driving valuable indus- 
 tries away. For instance, it may be asserted that they might move 
 from here into West Virginia or Maryland, or other places which 
 have not the eight-hour day for women and girls. We always meet 
 that objection, and I wish to forestall it. There is in the District of 
 Columbia no considerable amount of manufacturing, and the em- 
 ployment of women here is chiefly in industries which, in the nature 
 of things, can not move away, such as hotels, telephone service, 
 laundries, and stores; nearly all the industries which are character- 
 istic of the District of Columbia would be obliged to stay where the 
 people are whom they serve, whether the working day is eight hours, 
 as the Government guarantees to its employees, or whether it is un- 
 limited. I ask attention also to an objection raised here which, I 
 think, is covered in the bill. That is as to the detention of women 
 for a long period of hours, even though they are actively occupied 
 only a part of the time. I think that is covered in the text of the 
 bill. 
 The Chairman. We would be glad to have you point it out. 
 Mrs. Kelley. On page 3, section 5. [Reading:] 
 
 Sec. 5. That every employer shall post and keep posted in a conspicuous place 
 in every room in any establishment or occupation named in section one of this 
 ict in which any females are employed a printed notice stating the number o£ 
 lours such females are required or permitted to work on each day of the week, 
 :he hours of beginning and stopping such work, and the hours of beginning and 
 jnding the recess allowed for meals. The printed form of such notice shall be 
 'urnished by the inspectors authorized by this act. The employment of any 
 such female for a longer time in any day than that stated in the printed notice 
 shall be deemed a violation of the provisions of this section. The presence of 
 iny such female on the premises at any other hours than those stated in the 
 )rinted notice shall constitute prima facie evidence of a violation of this sec- 
 ion. Where the nature of the business makes it impracticable to fix the recess 
 
16 HOUBS OP LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
 
 allowed for meals at tlie same time for all females employed, the inspectors 
 ■authorized to enforce this act may issue a permit dispensing with the posting of 
 the hours when the recess allowed for meals begins and ends, and requiring 
 only the posting of the total number of hours which females are required or 
 permitted to work on each day of the week and the hours of beginning and 
 stopping such work. Such permit shall be kept by such employer upon such 
 premises and exhibited to all inspectors authorized to enforce this act. 
 
 That is taken from the statute of Massachusetts and other States 
 which regulate working hours. It has been found possible to en- 
 force the provision that the employees shall only be there while they 
 are actively engaged in work. It puts the burden of proof on the 
 employer to show that. 
 
 The Chairman. Under this provision it would be simply up to 
 the employer to furnish evidence that they were not employed dur- 
 ing that period. It would not be conclusive; simply prima facie 
 evidence that they were not thus employed? 
 
 Mrs. Kelley. Yes. 
 
 The Chairman. Now, take the instance which I cited in my ques- 
 tion to Mr. Peters, a hotel employee working for 2-J hours in the 
 preparation and serving of breakfast, %\ hours in the preparation and 
 serving of lunch, and 2| hours in the preparation and serving of 
 dinner; there you have 1\ hours all told, but there is an interim be- 
 tween breakfast and lunch and dinner, that, taken in connection with 
 the 1\ hours, makes the number of hours very much greater than 
 these 7-| seemingly working hours. Now, if the women who per- 
 formed that service in the hotels, in the kitchens, in the dining rooms 
 for a longer period than 2^ hours on each of those occasions it 
 would be prima facie evidence that the proprietor was violating the 
 law ; but suppose he does not allow them to remain on the premises 
 in the interim. They must hold themselves in readiness just the same 
 to be there at a specified time, so that, while not on the premises, 
 they would be practically on duty from the beginning of the prepa- 
 ration of breakfast until the closing of the serving of dinner. In 
 the practical application of this clause, which you say is taken from 
 the Massachusetts and New York law, do you find it actually pro- 
 tects the girls against a condition of that kind, so far as your obser- 
 vation goes? 
 
 Mrs. Kelley. So far as our observation goes, it does. 
 
 The Chairman. Your observation is that it does? 
 
 Mrs. Kelley. I would like to call your attention to another thing. 
 We have tried to incorporate in this bill only those things which 
 have been tested by experience. The primary provision, the restric- 
 tion of working hours to eight, has been held constitutional by the 
 Supreme Court of Washington and the Supreme Court of California 
 and has just been adopted by a large majority vote in a referendum 
 in Colorado. 
 
 If experience should show that this particular clause is defective, 
 it can be remedied later. 
 
 In drafting a bill with relation to working hours of women we 
 always suggest its contents under the shadow of the courts ; and our 
 great desire in this case, since we aim at model law in the District of 
 Columbia, is to have only those things which have been tested by 
 experience. 
 
 I hesitate to urge the committee to put in a provision which was 
 
 i"fllr£»n rllrpnf ■frnm o "lH , c»r]nT>al latxr ixrifL TeacvavA f/% v\^ctfnl ^-m~1 ~„„~~ 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 17 
 
 because Congress can draft a law for those employees in any way it 
 sees fit. In regard to private contracts it seems safer to stay within 
 the limits of those provisions which have been upheld as the general 
 restriction of hours has been upheld by the Federal courts and the 
 other provisions by the State courts. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you not think it would make the bill very 
 much stronger, without making any greater chance of being thrown 
 out by the court, if the bill specifically stated that eight hours should 
 constitute a day's work and that 8 hour's work must be performed 
 within 9 hours in the 24, thereby allowing for the usual hour for 
 lunch and obviating the possibility of this intervening or lapsed 
 time between portions of the day's work? 
 
 Mrs. Kelley. If we had any precedent in which the court had 
 sustained that provision in regard to private contracts between pri- 
 vate parties, I should be glad to have it put in. 
 
 Other suggestions in regard to the bill can be better made by. Miss 
 Goldmark. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I would like to ask Miss Younger a question in 
 regard to the amount of wages. You. referred to one case where there 
 had been a reduction of wages, due to the reduction of hours. Do 
 you know of any other case where wages were reduced on account of 
 the reduction of hours ? 
 
 Miss Younger. There were two or three other cases, but they were 
 arbitrary. The day the eight-hour law went into effect certain manu- 
 facturers arbitrarily reduced wages. It was usually where there was 
 just extra work and they had not given the girls an opportunity 
 to see whether they could do as much. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. There has been no general reduction of wages; it 
 is rather the exception to the rule? 
 
 Miss YorNGER. It is very exceptional. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I simply wanted the information as a matter of 
 record. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MISS JOSEPHINE GOLDMARK. 
 
 Mr. Peters. The next witness I wish to present is Miss Josephine 
 Goldmark. 
 
 The Chairman. Miss Goldmark, give your name and address to 
 the stenographer. 
 
 Miss Goldmark. Josephine Goldmark; 106 East Nineteenth 
 Street, New York, N. Y. 
 
 Mrs. Kelley spoke, in passing, of the various decisions of the 
 courts holding this legislation for women to be constitutional, and 
 I think the committee might like to have brought to its attention 
 what the decisions of the courts have been in regard to the constitu- 
 tionality of measures, such as the one which has been suggested here. 
 
 I hardly need draw your attention to the fact that it is now five 
 years since the Federal Supreme Court, the United States Supreme 
 Court here in Washington, upheld an Oregon measure limiting the 
 hours of labor of women. It was the first time that question had 
 ever been brought to the United States Supreme Court. There had 
 been a previous case in which the Supreme Court of Illinois had 
 held this kind of legislation unconstitutional as an infringement 
 upon women's freedom of contract. The Supreme Court here at 
 
 78634—13 2 
 
18 HOXJES OF LABOB FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Washington considered the question carefully and handed down a 
 decision which has become classic, holding that the special physical 
 burdens of women and the need of preserving the health of women 
 for the sake of the Nation gave States the right, under their police 
 powers, to enact legislation protecting women from excessive hours 
 or labor. The court said that this question affects not only the 
 women themselves, but affects the welfare of the whole Nation — to 
 preserve working women from being exhausted by too long hours. 
 That was in the year 1908, in the case of Muller n. The State of 
 Oregon. 
 
 Since then the supreme courts of other States have upheld the con- 
 stitutionality of similar laws. Illinois was the next State to con- 
 sider the question, and it is of great interest to find the Supreme 
 Court of the State of Illinois in the year 1911 entirely reversing 
 the decision of the same court which had passed upon a similar 
 measure 14 years before. Following this decision of the United 
 States Supreme Court in the Oregon case, the Illinois Supreme Court 
 also held a similar measure constitutional, saying, " What we know 
 as men we can not profess to be ignorant of as judges." They said 
 that the excessive hours of labor in factories and stores and laundries 
 undoubtedly injured the health of women, and they declared the law 
 constitutional, as a valid exercise of the police powers of the State. 
 Since that there has been similar cases in Michigan and Ohio, and 
 the Supreme Courts of those States are on record also as upholding 
 legislation of this kind. 
 
 These laws provide for somewhat longer hours than the bill now 
 before you provides, but within the last year both the Supreme 
 Courts of California and Washington have upheld the constitution- 
 ality of eight-hour laws, as Mr. Peters has pointed out, similar to 
 the bill under consideration at present. In both cases the decision 
 of the United States Supreme Court was again followed, and the 
 decisions both specifically said that it Avas within the police power to 
 tafeguard the health of its women in this way. 
 
 In regard to the need for this protection, as far as some of the 
 department stores are concerned, there is no doubt that the physical 
 hardship which women and girls suffer who work in department 
 stores has not been recognized. The physical strain is much greater 
 than is popularly supposed. The long hours which the women and 
 girls are required to stand are particularly injurious to health, and 
 the standing is practically continuous during the rush season. Dur- 
 ing these seasons the girls have not an opportunity to sit down except 
 for a very short break, which is not at all sufficient to compensate for 
 the strain of the long day. The Government report on laundries, 
 which was published as a part of the Federal investigation of women 
 wage earners in 1910 and 1911, showed the excessive strain on health 
 in that employment. The women not only have long hours of work, 
 but they suffer from the heavy physical strain that is inevitable in 
 using laundry machinery, which involves great phvsical effort. The 
 "body ironing " machines, where a heavy tread is necessary for each 
 operation of the machine, is particularly harmful. This hard phys- 
 ical labor and the long hours which prevail in laundries are undoubt- 
 edly dangerous to health. 
 
 If the committee should wish, I should be glad to furnish them 
 with a copy of my book called " Fatigue and Efficiency," which 
 
HOUES OF LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 19 
 
 brings out these points in regard to the strain on health, and brings 
 out also various points in regard to the increase in efficiency under 
 shorter hours. It is not a matter of theory; it has been proved in 
 establishments where careful records have been kept giving the out- 
 put under long hours and under the eight-hour day. Unfortunately, 
 only a few such careful records have been kept in this country. They 
 have been more carefully kept abroad, and where they have been kept 
 they show that after a short period of adjustment efficiency has been 
 increased with shorter working hours and the amount of the output 
 has gone up. It is a matter of getting a better result from the 
 workers in the shorter period. The book also goes into these ques- 
 tions of the constitutionality of the labor laws which I have just 
 briefly reviewed. 
 
 The Chairman. We would be pleased to have you leave the book 
 with us, Miss Goldmark. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Could we not have those parts containing the mat- 
 ters spoken of by Miss Goldmark made a part of the hearings ? 
 
 The Chairman. That would necessitate some one going through 
 the book and making a selection of the parts that should be used. 
 
 Mr. Peters. I will be responsible for that, arid Miss Goldmark and 
 I can go over it together, and I can incorporate such parts of it in 
 my remarks. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I think it will be of great value. 
 
 The Chairman. You may do that, Mr. Peters. If there is no ob- 
 jection, then, that course will be pursued. 
 
 Mr. Peters. It has just been brought to my attention that the 
 House meets at 11 o'clock, and it is now considerably past that hour, 
 and I will ask the next witnesses to be as brief as possible. 
 
 The next witness will be Dr. George M. Kober, a professor in the 
 medical department of Georgetown University, of this city. 
 
 STATEMENT OF DR. GEORGE M. KOBER, PROFESSOR OF HYGIENE, 
 MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, WASH- 
 INGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Peters. Mr. Chairman, I will now present to the committee 
 Dr. George M. Kober, of this city. 
 
 The Chairman. Please give your full name and position and 
 address to the stenographer. 
 
 Dr. Kober. George M. Kober; professor of hygiene, medical 
 department, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C. 
 
 As a teacher of hygiene, I am very much interested, especially 
 from the standpoint of health, in the bill which is now before you. 
 I feel that we have been somewhat negligent in safeguarding the 
 health of our working classes practically all over the world. This 
 especially applies to the safeguarding of the health of our working 
 women, many of whom are destined to be the mothers of the future 
 citizenship of this country. Upon their physical vigor the vigor of 
 the Nation must necessarily depend. 
 
 Efforts are being made, in recent years, to safeguard the health 
 of the workingmen, and very properly. I have advocated in a text- 
 book on industrial hygiene the eight -hour working day, from the 
 standpoint of hygiene and for reasons that have already been given 
 to you by Miss Goldmark. 
 
20 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 I believe that the enactment of such a law will result not only in 
 benefit to the laboring classes, but also increase his efficiency and 
 output and thus benefit the employers. After all, we are only 
 human machines, capable of doing so much work, and work per- 
 formed beyond the point of endurance will greatly impair our 
 efficiency. 'There can be no question about that. Most of the acci- 
 dents that occur occur as the results of overstrain and fatigue. 
 
 I was so much impressed with the absolute brutality and excessive 
 hours of labor for women that I requested, as chairman of the section 
 of industrial hygiene, of the Fifteenth International Congress of 
 Hygiene, held here last fall, Dr. Eosalie Slaughter Morton, of New 
 York, to present a paper on the " Effects of industrial strain upon 
 the health of working women," and as it is a comparatively brief 
 paper I commend it to your favorable consideration, as it points 
 out very clearly the injurious effects of overwork. 
 
 It does not require much expert, medical testimony to convince 
 you of these evil effects. You can see the effects of overstrain even 
 in the department stores where the labor is presumed to be light, 
 and certainly it is light as compared with many other occupations, 
 but when you observe the physical conditions of the women engaged 
 there, you will be impressed with the fact that their health is by no 
 means robust. They do not compare with the average farm girls, 
 who, as you know, work probably considerably over eight hours a 
 day, but there is a great difference in the physical environment. 
 They are engaged in an outdoor occupation with pure air and sun- 
 shine, whereas the industrial workers are confined in an atmosphere 
 often vitiated by products of combustion and respiration, insufficient 
 ventilation, and defective lighting, and of course such an environ- 
 ment is calculated to seriously affect the physical welfare of the 
 operatives. 
 
 The Chairman. Doctor, in that connection, the tendency of our 
 industrial system is to specialize, is to have the same individual per- 
 forming the same operations continuously from one year's end to the 
 other. Have you given any attention to the physical effect, both as 
 to the special development or abnormal development of certain 
 muscles brought about by the specialization and the effect upon the 
 nervous system, of continuously doing the same thing in an occupa- 
 tion? What is the effect upon the nervous system? 
 
 Dr. Kober. I should say that the excessive use of certain groups of 
 muscles or nerves is bound to lead to a breakdown sooner or later. 
 That is illustrated by the frequent occurrence of telegraphers' and 
 typewriters' cramp; and many other so-called fatigue nervouses, 
 which are entirely the result of the excessive use of certain groups of 
 muscles in the arms and hands and also of special senses, as in the 
 numerous affections developed in telephone operators. Then again 
 the monotony of certain work results in a great deal of wear and tear 
 to the nervous system; although the machine performers most often 
 work symptoms of fatigue appear earlier than when individuals are 
 engaged in work where they have to go through more or less of a 
 mental operation and where the work is not so mechanical. 
 
 I am simply here to make a strong plea for the enactment of the 
 bill, and I want to say that if the Congress of the United States 
 enacts such a bill as is presented here they will do more for true 
 
HOURS OF LABOK FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 21 
 
 womanhood and motherhood in the United States than by the enact- 
 ment of any measure that has ever been presented before you. 
 
 Effects of Industrial Strain on the Working Woman. 
 
 [By Rosalie Slaughter Morton, M. D., New York City. Kend before Section IV, Inter- 
 national Congress of Hygiene.] 
 
 Ill reviewing the literature on the hygiene of occupations, I have been inter- 
 ested to observe that much of the most able and comprehensive work has been 
 done by women, and also that physician have given much gratuitous time to an 
 analytical study of this subject. 1 
 
 What has been done shows the great desirability of the appointment, under 
 a national department of health, of a commission to make a systematic study of 
 industries and their various forms of strain on normal women of different ages 
 and types. Such a study would involve the detailed consideration of modifying 
 factors which are necessary in order that accurate deductions may be made 
 from statistics. For instance, present records show a high percentage of tuber- 
 culosis among both men and women working in tobacco. Unquestionably they 
 are affected by the irritation of dust and fumes which render them susceptible 
 to various derangements, especially bronchial catarrh, which lessens their re- 
 sistance to tuberculosis; but, on the other hand, stripping, sorting leaves, roll- 
 ing stogies, and so on, is not as strenuous as some other form of work ; so many 
 who already have tuberculosis seek employment in tobacco factories. 
 
 The available data on a number of trades show the value to the business and 
 social welfare of the world, as well as to the individual, of wisely conducted in- 
 dustry, for, to become truly constructive to the state, it must be profitable both 
 to employer and employee. 
 
 The regulation of work to an eight-hour day has proved necessary for men, 
 in order that they may retain their efficiency, and such regulation of hours for 
 women is equally necessary. Shorter hours and fairer pay would lessen the 
 effects of industrial strain upon the working women, both individually and 
 eugenically, to an extent which would raise the health and efficiency of our race 
 at least 70 per cent. Factory and other noudomestic industry is not in itself 
 a menace to women ; in fact, in many instances a woman's physical and mental 
 health is better when she is engaged in a regular and impersonal form of work. 
 
 Statistics from insane asylums and life insurance companies show that a 
 higher percentage of insane come from the class of domestics and housewives 
 than from women in trades and professions, and that longevity among women 
 has increased during the last 25 years. Most of the women who break down 
 from work do so from causes which are in no way related to sex. In gathering 
 information for this paper, I found that the average of temporary illnesses in 
 three New York department stores shows that the number of employees who 
 seek relief in the hospitals located in the stores is divided between men and 
 women in about equal ratio to those employed. Of the women patients, approxi- 
 mately, one-third suffer from headache, one-third from indigestion and miscel- 
 laneous ailments, and only one-third have menstrural disorders, making a very 
 small proportion out of the total number of employees. For instance, in a store 
 which employs 3,000 women, there will average not more than 10 a day who 
 come to the rest room or hospital for a few hours on account of dysmennorrhea. 
 In one of the stores, which employs approximately 3,500 women, the nurse who 
 had been in attendance for 8 years said that she knew of only 15 cases of 
 permanent pelvic trouble brought on by work in the store. In one store, which 
 is situated at the junction of several surface and elevated street car lines, the 
 daily attendance in the store hospital is double that of a store in a more quiet 
 location. The ventilation of the former store is also poorer than in the latter. 
 The proportion of those who suffer from dysmennorrhea is larger in the store 
 which is not so well ventilated and which is noiser, showing that general 
 hygiene has its effect upon a woman's health during her period. A point which 
 is often overlooked when statements are made regarding the endurance of 
 women as a class is that their lower wages do not enable them to purchase such 
 sustaining food as men customarily have. For instance, the average amount 
 paid for their lunch by women in shops, factories, and clerical positions is 15 
 cents ; the average paid by men in the same lines of work is 30 cents. The con- 
 
 1 See appended list of references. 
 
22 HOUES OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 sequent lack of nutrition in a very short time lessens the endurance of women 
 workers. Among the 3,800 employees in the head office of the Metropolitan L,iie 
 Insurance Co. absences on account of illness have been conspicuously reduced 
 since the company has provided a substantial lunch for them, and a similar 
 result has followed this wise economic step taken by other employers. 
 
 On the general subject of hygiene in relation to industry, many significant 
 deductions may be made which apply to women workers In their homes, m 
 colleges, in professions, in shops, and in factories, showing that their endurance, 
 capacity, and output are influenced by mental and physical hygiene rather than 
 by sex. The papers which have been or will be read before this congress direct 
 intensive thought toward many details of industrial strain which are applicable 
 as much to the working woman as to the working man ; in fact, according to 
 the schedules of the Twelfth Census (1900), we find women in 295 out of the 
 303 separate employments there tabulated. The general headings given are: 
 Agricultural, professional service, domestic and personal service, trade and 
 transportation, manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. The eight employ- 
 ments in which no women are recorded are: Soldiers of the United States, (2) 
 sailors of the United States, and (3) marines of the United States, (4) street 
 car drivers (though two women are reported as motormen), (5) firemen (in 
 the fire department), (6) apprentices and helpers to roofers and slaters. (7) 
 helpers to steam boiler makers, and (8) helpers to brass workers. 
 
 It may be of passing interest and, perhaps, a surprise to note that a limited 
 number of women were registered in unusual occupations ; 5 women were em- 
 ployed as pilots on steam railroads, 5 as baggagemen, 31 as brakemen, 7 as 
 conductors. 35 as engineers and firemen, and 26 as switchmen, yardmen, and 
 flagmen ; 6 women were reported as ship's carpenters, and as many as 181 
 were reported as blacksmiths, and 508 as machinists; 8 as boiler makers, 31 
 as charcoal, coke, and lime burners, and 11 as well borers. 
 
 The laws, or lack of them, for the protection of women's health and the 
 occupation in which women suffer from lack of fresh air or proper light, too 
 great heat or cold, speeding up, inhalation of irritating dust and gases, etc., 
 and the effects of these various forms of industry, have been so comprehensively 
 presented to you that anything I might say would be in large part a repetition: 
 therefore, I will confine my paper to the especial effect upon women of trades 
 which involve prolonged and unnecessary standing, the pushing of heavy trucks 
 from room to room, as in the larger canneiies ; the constant carrying of heavy 
 weights, as core makers in foundries, who carry trays of sand cases weighing 
 from 10 to 50 pounds from work benches to ovens; or operating machinery by 
 treadle pressure, with incessant kicking, as in a case cited by Dr. Caroline 
 Hedger, where, in assembling screw drivers, a girl kicked 7,000 times a day 
 with one foot. Violent treadle pressure, as in button-stamping machines, per- 
 forating presses in binderies, and the laundry cuff press, is especially harmful 
 to women. 
 
 In order to push or cany a heavy weight it is necessary to forcibly inflate 
 the lungs and rigidly fix the diaphragm. This increases interabdominal tension, 
 and will eventually lead to prolapsus, antiversion, antiflexion, retroversion, or 
 retroflexion of the uterus. The fatigue consequent upon continuous heavy mus- 
 cular effort causes a relaxation of the ligaments which support the uterus, and, 
 as the organ is situated in the pelvis with the heavy end up, when the ligaments 
 lack tone the force of gravity tends toward misplacement. Normally the uterus 
 is well balanced by the round and the broad ligaments on each side, the sacro- 
 uterine behind, and the vesico-uterine ligaments in front, and is to some extent 
 supported by the vagina. 
 
 According to the investigation of Elizabeth Beardsley Butler, in Pittsburgh, 
 in 1907-8, prolonged standing as customary in most departments of cracker fac- 
 tories, laundries, dyeing and cleaning establishments, metal works, lamp and 
 glass factories, mirror, broom, cork, paper-box, soap, and trunk factories, in 
 some pressrooms, and in most mercantile houses. This standing for long hours 
 may tend toward uterine misplacements, as indicated above. Then, too, the 
 fatigue of the nerves of the back bears directly upon the uterine nerve supply, 
 which is derived from the second, third, and fourth sacro-spinal nerves and 
 from branches of the hypogastric (sympathetic) plexus; this not only causes 
 local but reflex symptoms which impair the functions of other parts of the body. 
 The numerous occupations which, on the other hand, require the employee to 
 be seated for hours in one position have an especially deleterious effect upon a 
 woman's health by tending to overfull bladder, constipation, and pelvic conges- 
 tion. The uterus is placed between the bladder and the lower end of the large 
 
HOUBS OF LABOK TOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 23 
 
 intestine which passes above and back of the uterus, and the straining caused 
 by difficult defecation produces at least 50 per cent of downward misplacement 
 of the uterus, with all its attendant discomfort, and the frequent necessity of 
 spending several weeks in a hospital. Constant overloading of the rectum causes 
 pressure on many of the 28 blood vessels in the pelvis and interferes with the 
 return of venous blood, thereby causing congestion and possible inflammation 
 of the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, uterus, and vagina, which means ofttimes inva- 
 lidism, sterility, habitual miscarriages, or lifelong misery. 
 
 Dr. Ely Van der Warker has called attention to the fact that the shape of the 
 knee, the shallowness of the pelvis, and the delicate construction of the foot of 
 a woman render her inadequate for continuous standing for 8 or 10 hours. He 
 calls attention to the " smallness of the patella and the narrowness of the articu- 
 lar surfaces of the tibia and femur. The lateral prominences of both bones are 
 more developed in man, and therefore his knee joint helps to form a more 
 perfect sustaining column. In a woman the muscles which keep the body fixed 
 upon the thighs in the erect position labor under the disadvantage Of shortness 
 of purchase owing to the short distance, compared to that of a man, between 
 the crest of the ilium and the greater trochanter of the femur, thus giving to 
 men a much larger purchase in the leverage existing between the trunk and the 
 extremities ; and, comparatively, the woman's foot is less able to sustain weight 
 than the man's, owing to its shortness and the more delicate formation of the 
 tarsal and metatarsal bones." It must, however, be borne in mind that this is 
 somewhat offset by the fact that the average weight of a woman's body is less 
 than the average weight of a man's, and that the feet of European and American 
 women have increased in size with their greater use. 
 
 One of the primary drawbacks for women in the industrial life of to-day is 
 that most factories are equipped for the convenience of men workers. Mrs. 
 Florence Kelly called my attention to the use in one instance of tables designed 
 for men to sit at them, and used by girls 14 years old, who are thus quite 
 needlessly obliged to stand. 
 
 Prolonged standing and excessive use of the legs, as in the manipulation of 
 the treadle machines, has an effect upon the bones of the pelvis, particularly in 
 poorly nourished women between the ages of 14 and 25, as the bones are then 
 not sufficiently hard to resist the mechanical effects of the extreme pressure. 
 The pelvis forms a bony girdle which supports the weight of the rest of the 
 body and is itself supported by the legs, the heads of the femurs fitting into the 
 acetabuli, the concave sockets on each side of the pelvis. Constant standing 
 causes this pressure to symmetrically narrow the pelvis. The incessant use of 
 one limb may cause a lateral deformity which will render difficult or impossible 
 an erect position of the body, upon which depends to a large extent the health 
 of every organ, because unless the lungs have sufficient room to expand they 
 can not aerate the blood, and therefore a large portion of the waste products 
 of the body is not eliminated, and oxygen is not supplied to the tissues of the 
 body. All occupations which cause the workers to become round-shouldered 
 are fundamentally injurious, because the space for each organ in the body is so 
 apportioned that the encroachment of one organ, or set of organs, upon others 
 (as from faulty position of the bony structure) interferes with the function of 
 the organ pressed upon. The especial menace of any pelvic deformity is in 
 its relation to pregnancy. Any narrowing of the pelvis interferes with devel- 
 opment of the child in utero and may necessitate an instrumental delivery, with 
 the attendant risk of serious injury to both mother and child. 
 
 The health and vitality of the child from the time of conception depend very 
 much upon the mother's physical condition; an unhealthy condition of her 
 tissues may prevent a proper development and implantation of the placenta. 
 A large number of miscarriages are due to this cause, and later, if she is over- 
 worked and poorly nourished, the nourishment of the child will be very much 
 interfered with during gestation and lactation. 
 
 In a symposium on sex problems in relation to the health of working women 
 it would not be right to omit mention of two very important factors which 
 greatly reduce their health ratio, although these diseases are not due to indus- 
 trial strain, and indeed the women themeslves are often ignorant of having 
 acquired them. Their working efficiency is frequently reduced as a result of 
 their suffering from syphilis and gonorrhea, and the economic effect of this 
 is far-reaching. The placenta, under ordinary circumstances, acts as a filter 
 and 'prevents the transmission of disease; for instance, a child of a tubercular 
 mother is not born with tuberculosis, but a child may inherit syphilis from its 
 'mother or father. Unfortunately, a large number of working women suffer 
 
24 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 from syphilis and gonorrhea, of the presence of which they are ignorant, and 
 for which they therefore do not seek diagnosis and treatment. 
 
 In connection with the physical efficiency of women a study ot women 
 athletes was made in 1884 by Dr. Sarah E. Post, and one recently made by 
 Dr. Anganette Parry is interesting. She found that a bareback rider, 65 years 
 old, who while performing jumps through a hoop at the rate of six times a. 
 minute, in one pregnancy rode until the eighth month, and a normal child 
 weighing 9 pounds was born at term. In another pregnancy she also rode 
 until the eighth month, and began riding again four weeks after the birth of 
 this her fourth child. The woman is in perfect physical condition. 
 
 Another rider continued to ride until the eighth month and later nursed her 
 child. These women, when asked whether they were exceptional cases, said 
 no one ever heard of anyone breaking down in the. business. Another, who 
 was also the mother of a rider, had six children living. A trapeze performer, 
 
 25 years old, has regular menstruation and no pain. The flow stops while she 
 is performing. 
 
 A hippodrome acrobat; tumbler; hand balancer; 27 years old; began train- 
 ing at 5 years; trapeze and rings; first menstruation at 12; always regular; 
 5 days ; moderate flow ; no nausea or vomiting ; no cramps ; occasional head- 
 ache ; flow does not stop while performing. Married at 20 ; first pregnancy ; 
 performed until fifth month; very easy labor — 12 hours; second pregnancy, 
 very easy labor — half an hour; after three months went back to the stage; 
 plenty of milk. 
 
 Mrs. Hosfall ; father an American, mother an Indian ; educated by mis- 
 sionaries in summer; the rest of the year followed the band of Indians; mar- 
 ried at 20 ; trapped with husband ; poles, tracks boat, handles ax, builds cabin, 
 shoots, hunts, cooks; skillful in Indian woman's practical work, dressing ani- 
 mals, tanning, and so forth. Four healthy daughters in five years ; two youngest 
 each born on the bank of the river, with the temperature many degrees below 
 zero, where she was entirely alone and must keep fire and cook; passed suc- 
 cessfully through it all. 
 
 Dr. Parry pointed out that these women wore no heavy skirts; that their 
 training began in childhood; and that they undoubtedly have unusually strong 
 uterine ligaments; they are very careful of personal hygiene and have plenty of 
 air, wholesome food, and work which they enjoy. A young woman recently 
 swam across San Francisco Harbor, a distance of 8 miles, and on arrival was 
 not fatigued. The feat had been accomplished but twice before. These are 
 exceptional cases and not especially to be recommended, for in both men and 
 women an overtaxed dilated heart often results in fatty degeneration of the 
 heart and muscles and generally follows a discontinuance of vigorous athletics. 
 Moderate regular exercise is necessary for continued good health, and the nor- 
 mal woman can attend to her ordinary duties during her menstrual period with- 
 out injury, although on account of the uterus being physiologically heavy at 
 that time, overexercise and vigorous exercise should be avoided the first three 
 days of the period. 
 
 Much has been said and written about nervous strain in women's work, and 
 there are some occupations, especially that of telephone operators (as pointed 
 out in the investigation of telephone companies, in Senate Document No. 380), 
 which call the special senses into play in a manner in which they are required 
 to act not only continually but concertedly. This feature calls for special con- 
 sideration in estimating the strain to which telephone operators are subjected 
 by the nature of their work. As has been pointed out, connections on a switch- 
 board are made by inserting a small plug in a small hole above which the num- 
 ber of the telephone requested appears. The eye is attracted in the first in- 
 stance by the glowing of a light which announces the call. It has then to 
 immediately find on the switchboard the hole in which it is necessary to insert 
 the plug to make the desired connection. Similarly in disconnecting, the eye 
 detects the extinction of the light, and then seeks on the switchboard the num- 
 ber with which the connection has been made. This means constant employ- 
 ment of the muscles of the eye in different directions and constant use of the 
 optic nerve. The ear, in receiving calls, is required to distinguish between a 
 multitude of different voices to ascertain at once, in order to avoid repetition, 
 the number asked for, no matter how indistinctly or ill pronounced the number 
 may be. This necessitates constant alertness, of the auditory nerve, while the 
 vocal organs are scarcely less constantly in use in the answer of calls the 
 repetition of numbers, and the conduct of such conversations as may be neces- 
 sary. The sensations created by the operation of the several senses in this 
 
HOUBS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 25 
 
 manner transmit their several messages to the brain, which, in turn, directs and 
 governs the actions they suggest. 
 
 These special senses are simultaneously called into play also in stenography, 
 typewriting, and telegraphy, but to a less extent than in telephone operating. 
 These forms of work are psychologically and physically well adapted to women, 
 but hours of employment should be shorter than in other forms of work 
 which are less expert and taxing to the nervous system. The report of the 
 Royal Commission of Canada 'on telephone companies presents a study of 
 special value. 
 
 The increase of nervous prostration among both men and women is perhaps 
 the most important effect of strain which we have to consider, for all muscular 
 and intellectual effort requires the expenditure of nervous energy, and over- 
 long working hours wholly exhaust the sources of nerve endurance. Nerve 
 cells are the producers of energy, and nerve fibers conduct this to the muscles. 
 Stimulation is wholesome; overstimulation produces accumulations of waste 
 products, which act as a definite poison, and demonstrable changes take place 
 in the cells of the brain and spinal cord. Miss Josephine Goldmark has com- 
 piled much valuable data in her book on " Fatigue and Efficiency," which 
 forms an unanswerable argument for shorter hours of work for both women 
 and men. 
 
 The measure of pleasure one finds in work markedly affects the amount of 
 strain, as is well illustrated by the fact that work which well accomplishes- 
 its object is less fatiguing than the same amount of energy spent on work in 
 which one is not interested or which results in failure. The training of women 
 in salesmanship by Mrs. Lucinda W. Prince, in the Woman's Educational and 
 Industrial Union, in Boston, shows the value of so educating woman that her 
 brain and physical force may work together, giving her a sense of responsibility 
 in regarding her work as a vocation, with intelligent interest in system, attention 
 to details, increased knowledge of the goods to be sold, color, design, textiles, 
 etc. Pupils sent from five well-known Boston department stores receive full 
 wages while taking the three months' course, which occupies them each 
 morning. The value of this as a business proposition, as well as an illustra- 
 tion of the increase in efficiency with the lessening of Strain, is shown by the 
 fact that their afternoon sales give them a weekly total as high as the em- 
 ployees who do not attend the school and who work all day. 
 
 In summarizing the direct effects of industrial strain on the working woman, 
 it is my opinion, after consulting statistics compiled by many investigators, 
 boards, institutions, companies, colleges, and others, and also after conferring 
 with a number of thoughtful people who have opportunities to observe women 
 who work under varied conditions, that, with properly regulated hours of work 
 and recreation, outside of the excessive physical labor to which I have referred 
 in this paper, women may work in practically any field of modern industry, 
 and not only retain but increase their standard of health. But they must be 
 given hygienic and properly arranged buildings in which to work and they and 
 their employers taught the common sense of the laws of health. This educa- 
 tion is the great need. For when legislatures and their constituents really 
 comprehend that the health of its citizens is the greatest asset of any nation, 
 thev must pass laws protecting the health of laborers, and this will occur when 
 a greater number of their constituents are interested in the health of women of 
 
 oil nil p c g £» g 
 
 Without education, good laws may be inactive. For instance, in six States- 
 Massachusetts, Maryland, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, and New York-we 
 have laws providing seats behind the counter for saleswomen which however, 
 they are prevented from using by the disapproving watchfulness of a floor- 
 walker who is ignorant of the relation of fatigue to inefficiency. 
 
 When individuals are educated to understand that their happiness and con- 
 tinued usefulness depend upon personal as well [as 'Industrial ■ *W«£ tt«™ w* 
 be a fullness of jov in living which is a perfectly practical standaid tor the 
 attainment of which the world's best citizens are working. 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 Butler Elizabeth B.-Women and the Trades. Pages 35&-36T: Health condi- 
 
 Jacob? I™ (M DT-The r physical Cost of Women's Work. (Charities and the 
 Commtns, 19OT, v. 17, pp.839-844. Overwork of women and its effect on 
 their health.) 
 
26 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Klink, Jane S.— The Health of Women Workers. (Academy of Political Science, 
 
 N. Y., vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 35-40.) „ ,_ _ . . ™_. 
 
 Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor.— Female Health, Special ^fleets 
 
 of Certain Forms of Employment Upon. Sixth annual report, 1875, 11, pp. 
 
 67-132. Published also by physician who made investigation Ames, A-zel, Jr. 
 
 Sex in Industry; a plea for the working girl. Boston, Osgood, 1875 ,158 pp. 
 United States Labor Bureau.— Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage 
 
 Earners in the United States, 1910-1912. 
 Fourth Annual Report of United States Commissioner of Labor, 1888.— Working 
 
 Women in Large Cities ; conditions of health. 
 Wright, Carroll D.— Effect of Work on Health. The working girls of Boston, 
 
 Mass., pp. 68-75. Fifteenth annual report of Massachusetts Bureau of Sta- 
 tistics of Labor, 1884. 
 Special report of the Census Office. — Statistics of women at work. 
 American Labor Legislation Review. — Industrial diseases. 
 Smart, Isabelle T. (M. D.).— The Question of Heavy Apparatus Work for 
 
 Women. 
 Senate investigations of telephone companies. 1910. — Health of Women Em- 
 ployees ; pp. 20, 76, 82, 105, 108, 109. 
 Publication 12 of the American Association for Labor Legislation. — Occupa- 
 tional Diseases. 
 .Dana, Charles L. (M. D.). — Occupational Neuroses, in Medical Record, March 
 
 9, 1912. 
 Abbott, Edith. — Women in Industry. 
 
 Kober, George II. (M. D.). — Industrial and Personal Hygiene. 
 Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County. — Legislation limiting hours of 
 
 labor. 
 Bulkely, L. Duncan (M. D.). — The Place of Women in the Modern Business 
 
 World, as Affecting Health. Bulletin of American Academy of Medicine, 
 
 page 342. 
 Kellor, Frances A. — Experimental Sociology, page 86 : Occupations. 
 Goldniark, Josephine. — Fatigue and Efficiency. Charities "Publishing Company, 
 
 N. Y., 1912, page 890. Physical effects of overstrain on women workers. 
 Hedger, Caroline (SI. D.). — Relation of Infant Mortality to the Occupation 
 
 and Long Hours of Work of Women. Bulletin of the American Academy of 
 
 Medicine, Easton, Pa., 1910, v. 11, pp. 80-89. 
 Van Kleeck. — Working Hours of Women in Factories (Charities, New York, 
 
 1906-7, v. 17, pp. 13-21). Result of long hours and overwork on physical 
 
 condition of working women. 
 Fourth Annual Report of United States Commissioner of Labor, 1888. — Working 
 
 Women in Large Cities. 
 Macy, Mnry Sutton (M. D.). — The Industrial Occupations of Women in Relation 
 
 to Infant Morbidity and Mortality. 
 Smart, Isabelle T. (M. D.). — Relation of Women in Industry to Child Welfare. 
 
 Woman's Medical Journal, March, 1911. 
 Saleeby, C. W. — Woman and Womanhood. 
 Kelley, Florence, — The Sex Problem in Industrial Hygiene. American Journal 
 
 of Public Hygiene, Boston, June, 1910, v. 20, pp. 252-257. Plea for legal 
 
 regulations for hours of labor for women. 
 Birmingham, England, health department. — Industrial Employment of Married 
 
 Women and Infant Mortality. 
 Spencer, Anna Garlin. — Social Use of the Postgraduate Mother. The Forum. 
 Launching of the Child. Outlook, 101 ; 75-80. 
 
 Physiological Basis for Education. Nineteenth Century, 71; 945-65. 
 Infant Welfare. Am. Journal Soc. 
 Report of the United States Department of Labor on the condition of woman 
 
 and child wage earners, Vol. XIII. 
 Origin and Control of Mental Defectives. Pop. Sci. Mon., 80 ; 87. 
 Woman and the Wage Question Rev. of Rev., 45 ; 439-42. ' Same, 45 ; 226-28. 
 Efficiency in Child Saving. Am. Acad, of Med., 41 ; 69-70. 
 Conservation of Womanhood and Childhood. Outlook, 99 ; 1013-9. 
 Woman in Industry. Atlan. Monthly, 110; 116-24. 
 
 Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United States. Am. Econ Rev 
 Scrub Woman of the Financial District. Survey, 28 ; 414-6. 
 Revelations of Industrial Life. Liv. Age., 274; 138-47. 
 Legislative Gains for Woman. Survey, 28; 95-7. 
 Forsythe. — Children in Health and Disease. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 27 
 
 Sir John Gorst. — The Children of the Nation. 
 
 Saleeby. — Parenthood and Race Culture. 
 
 Thomas Oliver. — Dangerous Trades. 
 
 Statistics of Women at Work. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 
 
 A. Mosso, professor of physiology, University of Turin. — Fatigue. 
 
 Dr. A. Forel. — Hygiene of the Nerves in Health and Disease. 
 
 Dr. Sarah E. Post. — Exercise for Women as Illustrated in Circus Riders and 
 
 Gymnasts. Medical Record, May 17, 1884. 
 Parry, Angenette (M. D.). — Relation of Athletics to the Reproductive Life of 
 
 Women. Am. Jour. Obstet, Sept., 1912. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MRS. GRACE C0UL0N, OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Peters. Mr. Chairman, I now desire to present to the com- 
 mittee Mrs. Grace Coulon, who was formerly and. for a long time a 
 laundry worker in this city and who will speak to the committee of 
 her experience as a laundry worker in the District of Columbia. 
 
 The Chairman. Will you please give your full name and address 
 to the stenographer. 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Mrs. Grace Coulon, 618 Twenty-third Street. 
 
 The Chairman. State for the information of the committee your 
 experience in connection with laundry work, telling it in your own 
 way the number of hours you were required to work, what kind of 
 work you were required to do and the wages you received and the 
 wages your associates received for that work, and any information 
 of that kind that may occur to you ; state in your own way. 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I went to work in the laundry here when I was 13 
 years of age, and I am 26 years old now, and I have worked con- 
 tinuously during that time in laundries up until about six weeks 
 ago, when I went to the Y. W. C. A. I worked as hard as anybody 
 in the laundry. The girls have to work from half past 7 until 6 
 o'clock at night. They have awful hard work to do. They don't 
 stand in one place all the time. They move around from one machine 
 to another, except when they are working on towels or on the mangle. 
 Of course the salary of the girls is not very large, because some of 
 them work for $2 or $3 and some of them for $4 and $5. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. A week? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes.' Of course they are not going to get this eight- 
 hour law to pass for laundries because they can not get it through, 
 and the laundries can not do the amount of work they have to do in 
 eight hours with the force that they have, and they won't get other 
 girls, because it costs them too much. 
 
 Mr. Peters. Are those the hours of labor for every day in the 
 week ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Every day in the week; yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. About how high a temperature is there in the 
 room in which you work ; how warm is it ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I have worked on the machines that we used to iron 
 on, and sometimes it was very hot — more or less up to 100; it was 
 very hot. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do I understand you to say that the wages of 
 laundry workers, the girls, do not average over $4 a week. 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Some of them do not. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. About what do you think would be the average ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Well, a girl might get— I could get $10 a week if 
 they would pay it to me. 
 
28 HOUKS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I mean what is the average pay; what would be 
 about an average for the girls working there ? 
 Mrs. Coulon. In the different departments in the laundry? 
 Mr. Buchanan. Yes. 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Well, some of them get seven, some of them six, some 
 four and a half, and some five. Of course, they do not pay them all 
 that much, because they could get other girls for less wages. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. When you left the employment of the laundry, 
 what wages were you getting? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. When I was working there I was getting seven and 
 a half. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. In working there in the laundry, were you work- 
 ing alongside of men doing practically the same work? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes ; I was doing the same identical work that the 
 men were doing, and they were getting from fifteen to twenty dollars 
 a week. 
 Mr. Buchanan. And you were getting seven and a half? 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir; I was doing exactly the same work they 
 were doing. 
 Mr. Buchanan. You think you earned at least $10? 
 Mrs. Coulon. I certainly could get it. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You could not get your employer to pay you that? 
 Mrs. Coulon. Xo; I could not. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Did I understand you to say that there were other 
 girls that were willing to work and who did work for less money 
 than you were getting? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir; that is so. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. They could get other girls at a less rate than seven 
 and a half dollars a week? 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Because of that fact you told them that you were 
 earning $10 a week but only receiving seven and a half dollars a 
 week? 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. And you had been there for 13 years? 
 Mrs. Coulon. Not in one laundry. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You had been engaged in laundry work for 13 
 years ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You knew the details of the work from the be- 
 ginning, from the taking in of the laundry to the taking out of the 
 laundry ? ° 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr Buchanan. You were only receiving seven dollars and a half 
 a week? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. When I first started I only got one dollar and a half 
 a week. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do you work the same number of hours on Mon- 
 day as on other davs? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. No sir; I went to work at 9 o'clock on Mondays. 
 Mr. Buchanan You continued until 6 o'clock in the evening? 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. s 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How long did you have for lunch ? 
 
HOUES OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 29 
 
 Mrs. Cotilon. Well, just according to how much work we had. 
 We sometimes had three-quarters of an hour and sometimes it was 
 half an hour and sometimes an hour. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You had no definite time allowed for your noon- 
 day lunch ; it was according to the rush or work, the amount of time 
 that was allowed you for lunch ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is that a common custom in the laundries in the 
 District of Columbia? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. That was in this one; I do not know about the 
 others, but I believe so. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. In all the places you have worked ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What is the percentage of girls employed in 
 laundries who are less than 18 years of age; young girls, 14 to 18 
 years of age ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I do not think we had very many that were not of 
 age; only these young girls, young colored girls, who worked on the 
 mangle and shaking, and such as that. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. There were not many, you say, who were under 18 
 years of age? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. No, sir ; there were not. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. They were mostly girls who had nearly reached 
 or who had reached maturity ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Were you required at any time to work over- 
 time? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir; we were in the case of a breakdown or a 
 holiday ; we had to work overtime to make up for lost time. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You were required to work overtime because of 
 the rush of business ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir; we were. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Were you paid extra wages when you were re- 
 quired to work overtime? 
 
 Mrs. Cotjlon. No, sir; we were not. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How much overtime is the greatest amount of 
 overtime you have ever worked ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I have worked from 7.30 in the morning until 10 
 at night. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Has that been very frequent? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. No; only when we have a holiday and- were not 
 open ; the next day we would have to work late to get the work out. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I believe you stated that when you started, at 13 
 years of age, you worked for $1.50 a week? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What work did you do ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I first learned to mop ; I knew nothing about the 
 laundry at all when I went in. 
 Mr. Buchanan. How long did you work for $1.50 a week? 
 Mrs. Coulon. I could not tell you. 
 Mr. Buchanan. About how long? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. About a month or so; then I got the 50-cent raise, 
 and I was raised 50 cents every time I got a raise. 
 
30 HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTBICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Chairman. How long were you paid $7.50; how long before 
 you quit? 
 
 Mrs. Cotilon. I was paid that two months before I left; and he 
 only paid it to me because I was going to leave, and he wanted me to 
 stay. 
 
 The Chairman. How much had you been paid before that? 
 
 Mrs. Cohlon. $6.50. 
 
 The Chairman. How long had you been paid $6.50 before that? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Oh, I guess about a year. 
 
 The Chairman. About a year? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes. 
 
 The Chairman. And you worked before that time for how much? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Five and one-half to six dollars. 
 
 The Chairman. Have you any people whom you have to assist in 
 supporting out, of the wages you earn ? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I have a little boy; I am a widow with a little boy. 
 
 The Chairman. Your little boy; any parents? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon, I help to take care of my mother. 
 
 The Chairman. You help to take care of your mother? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. The only reason why I left the laundry 
 was because my nerves got all unstrung from the machines and the 
 wear of the work: the work was too much for one woman to do. 
 
 The Chairman. You felt the strain*was entirely too much on your 
 
 nerves 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes. sir: I felt that, the strain was entirely too much 
 on my nerves. 
 
 The Chairman. About how long do people generally work in 
 laundries — the idea I have is whether there are people of your 
 acquaintance in laundries who have worked in laundries longer than 
 you have ? 
 
 Mrs. CotLON. Yes, indeed; some of them; there are. 
 
 The Chairman. Many of them? 
 
 Mrs. Coitlon. Yes; quite a few of them. 
 
 The Chairman. Getting a higher rate of wages than you got? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Not that I know of. 
 
 The Chairman. Those are the highest wages you know of which a 
 woman gets in laundry work? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes. The only reason I got those low wages was 
 because they can bring the darkies in and and get them for two and 
 three dollars. They let them work one day and come when they 
 please and go when they please, and they will put up with it because 
 they pay them such small wages and they do not care. 
 
 The Chairman. You have that kind of competition to meet? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes. The white girls have to work all the time, 
 and the colored women work when they please; they take small 
 wages and you could not expect any more out of them. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. SAMUEL GOMPERS, PRESIDENT AMERICAN 
 FEDERATION OF LABOR. 
 
 Mr. Peters. Mr. Chairman, I now wish to present Mr. Samuel 
 Gompers. 
 
 The Chairman. Mr. Gompers, will you state your full name and 
 address? 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 31 
 
 Mr. Gompers. Samuel Gompers, Ouray Building, "Washington, 
 D. C. 
 
 The Chairman. It might be well to state whom you represent; 
 some of us might not know. 
 Mr. Gompers. I am president, of the American Federation of Labor. 
 The executive council of the American Federation of Labor, at its 
 recent meeting in Washington, had before it, among other matters, 
 the consideration of the bill H. It. 27281, and unanimously gave to 
 the bill and the principle involved in the bill its indorsement. The 
 executive council, in the interim of the conventions of the American 
 Federation of Labor, is intrusted with the authority and respon- 
 sibility of initiating legislation in the interests of working people 
 and of assisting or cooperating in having legislation of that kind and 
 character enacted. 
 
 In addition to my own personal interests in legislation of this 
 character, so that it may be known to you that I speak in this matter 
 by the authority and in behalf of the American Federation of Labor, 
 I desire to state that- the bill under consideration has hearty sup- 
 port of the executive council of the American Federation of Labor. 
 It was a great pleasure for me to hear the splendid testimony given 
 before this committee this morning upon the subject of the physical 
 and mental and social and economic and political welfare of the 
 people of our country, and of the necessity for having legislation of 
 1 this character enacted by the Congress of the United States. It has 
 i been a great struggle for the workers and the sympathizers with 
 1 labor to break through the crust of bigotry and prejudice and greed, 
 to let the world know of all that is implied and involved in the legis- 
 5 lation and the movement for the reduction of the hours of labor. You 
 1 may know — many of you do not know — that I have appeared before 
 1 the committees of Congress not only for the purpose of advocating 
 a limitation of the hours of labor of men engaged in the overground 
 pursuits, men engaged in the factories, in the workshops, in the 
 mills, but I have pleaded for a limitation of the hours of labor of the 
 men who work underground, a limitation of the hours of labor of 
 Government employees — for those who work for the Government be- 
 cause the Government is the employer, and the only reasonable way 
 we can reach the Government is through legislation. But in all other 
 fields of industrial activity I have believed and advocated the belief 
 1 that the men who labor can best secure for themselves the regula- 
 1 tions of their hours of labor, and that they should insist upon it that. 
 ' the hours should be limited. to a normal and a healthful workday. 
 ' It is not necessary before the Committee on Labor of the House 
 of Eepresentatives to go far in argument to convince its members of 
 the necessity of the limitation of the hours of labor, particularly of 
 1 the women workers. The International Congress of Hygiene, which 
 • was held in the city of Washington a few months ago, was probably 
 without any equivocation or without any qualifications the most in- 
 tensely interesting exhibition that has ever been held in this or, per- 
 1 haps in any other country, and a visit there vrould have demon- 
 strated even to the dullest the tremendous effect of industry and the 
 evils attending modern industry upon human life. If ever any un- 
 '■ questionable and unquestioned testimony was given m regard to the 
 organized labor movement and the efficiency of its work, the necessity 
 i for the success of its demands and efforts, that exposition demon- 
 
32 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 strated it. It justified every claim made by organized labor. It 
 justified every demand made by organized labor. When I use the 
 term " organized labor " I use it advisedly, because the working peo- 
 ple who are not members of organized labor have no opportunity of 
 speaking for themselves or .their fellows. The only source or power 
 or factor that speaks in the'interests of the workers is the organized 
 labor movement and those who are trying to aid the workers, yet who 
 may themselves not be wageworkers in the generally accepted sense 
 of that term. 
 
 However, the fact is that the District of Columbia is not an indus- 
 trial center, and I think it is not misrepresenting the people gener- 
 ally, or those who speak in the name of the people, to say that there 
 is no desire to make of Washington an industrial center. Hence 
 many of the evils attending modern industry do not prevail in the 
 District of Columbia ; but those who know, those who do go about, 
 those who try to learn the existing conditions, know that the hours 
 of labor are abnormally long right here in Washington. Girls who 
 fire in an}' way organized have some degree of protection, but yet 
 have not an 8-hour day. Irt many of the occupations and trades 
 and vocations the hours of labor are entirely subject to the control 
 and the whim or the fancy or the immediate interests of the em- 
 ployer. Just as you have heard the testimony of the lady who pre- 
 ceded me, when the employer, for his temporary advantage saw fit, 
 he required his employees in the laundry to work from 7 o'clock in 
 the morning until 10 o'clock at night. He simply informed them 
 that they had to work. There was nothing between him and his 
 interests and the protection of the women in his employ. There was . 
 no check. It is not a good thing where there is nothing standing 
 between man's cupidity and humanity. 
 
 We have met opposition to all our legislation that we have asked at 
 the hands of Congress and at the hands of legislatures when the 
 interests of the working people were affected. I do hope that there 
 will be no opposition to this bill. It is founded upon the highest 
 questions of right and justice, and our duty to ourselves and to our 
 women and to those who are to come after -them and us. 
 
 I desire to bring to your attention a letter which a large employer 
 of labor has written to the president of a great international union, 
 because it splendidly demonstrates the results of the movement to 
 shorten the working day. It is by William J. Crawford, president 
 of William J. Crawford & Co. (Inc.), one of the leading firms in the 
 granite industry. It is addressed to Mr. James Duncan, interna- 
 tional president of the Granite Cutters' International Association, 
 Quincy. Mass. It says [reading] : 
 
 tWilliam .T. Crawford & Co. (Inc.). Monuments, mausoleums, statuary, in granite, etc.] 
 
 Buffalo, X. T., December 19, 1912. 
 Mr. James Dux can, 
 
 International President the Granite Cutters' 
 
 International Association, Quincy. Mass. 
 Dear Sir : For several months the writer has wished to write to you to ex- 
 plain some facts which we are sure will interest you and your fellow members. 
 There are few firms in the country who have kept a comprehensive cost 
 system extending over a period of more than 30 years. Just 32 years ago, in 
 January, 1SS0, we commenced to keep this record of the value of each man 
 and the exact cost of each piece of work, and we have kept this ever since. 
 In the part of this work which will interest you we have .i nasre for each 
 
HOURS OF LABOE FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 33 
 
 granite cutter, and following each entry of the piece of work he takes up is 
 the day and hour commenced, the day and hour finished, the entire time con- 
 sumed, the wages we have paid, the quarry bill, and a column for Joss and a 
 column for gain. In this way we are able to raise a man's wages from time to 
 time as he proves his worth. We do this without request from the men, and 
 in this way we obtain the highest efficiency, and we can not remember when a 
 man has asked us to raise his wages. 
 
 Now, about the fact that I think will be of particular interest to you. This 
 cost system extends back to the time when the day was 10 hours, and it shows 
 that the same man, under identically the same conditions, accomplished more 
 of exactly the same kind of work when he was working 9 hours than He did 
 when he was working 10 hours, and, again, when the hours were reduced to 8 
 hours this same man accomplished still more in an 8-hour day than he did in 
 n 9-hour day. or a considerable amount more than he did when the day was 10 
 hours long. 
 
 My observation of the conditions, and I am with our men from 8 a. m. until 
 5 p. m., is this, that as men work to-day at the granite-cutting trade an 8-hour 
 day is too long, and I believe that any good granite cutter (and I mean by this 
 a man who uses his brains as well as his muscles every minute) could do just 
 as much work in 7 or even 6 hours as he does in 8. This may sound radical, 
 but from close study I find that 16 hours for " rest and refreshment " to a 
 granite cutter is not sufficient to make him approach his work in the morning 
 in a perfectly rested condition. _^ 
 
 We are glad to watch the efforts of a Matthewson, Johnson, Joe Wood, or any 
 of the other star pitchers, and we would think McGraw, Griffiths, or Stahl 
 beside themselves to put any one of these men in the box for two consecutive 
 days of about 2 hours each day. Now, what granite cutter does not put as 
 much of his brains and muscles into his work every day as these stars exercise? 
 The shrewd managers knows he can get the best results from a man whose 
 brain and body are not fatigued. We employers of granite cutters can learn a 
 lesson from them. Once in a while there is an Edison who can work long hours 
 profitably, but they are conspicuous by their rarity. The short life of the 
 granite cutters is due not to dust alone, but to the hard work incident to the 
 trade. 
 
 Again, what are the hours of the men whose salaries soar into the five-figure 
 mark? Few. if any, are at their offices more than 4 hours each day. 
 
 Let the union and the employers get together on this question. I am going to 
 try this experiment on one man in the near future. I am going to tell him 
 that I have his record for the past year, we will say, at 8 hours, and I am going 
 to pay him the same wages for a month or six weeks, and wish him to com- 
 mence at 8.30 instead of 8 and quit at 4.30 instead of 5, and I do not wish him 
 to exert himself one whit more than before, and I will give you the record of 
 the result. 
 
 A granite cutter should receive the highest wage of any of the industrial 
 trades. His work is hard and exacting, the danger from dust is great, and 
 your $4 minimum is none too high. I am with you in every effort to better the 
 condition of your members, whom I am glad to say represent a very high degree 
 of intelligence and are conservatively advised. 
 
 Very truly, yours, William J. Crawford, 
 
 President William J. Crawford & Co. (Inc.). 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I read this letter in its entirety not because all ol 
 it deals with the question under consideration but because I wanted 
 to maintain the letter in its entirety, that the letter should be per- 
 petuated and its contents should be understood. 
 
 The letter demonstrates the fact that when the hours of labor are 
 reduced from an abnormally long work day to a normal work day 
 the efficiency, of the worker is increased and his productivity is in- 
 creased. This applies not alone to the granite cutter, but it applies 
 to every field of human activity. It applies to the women and girls 
 as much as it applies to the strongest men. 
 
 We are much interested in the conservation of wealth, the conser- 
 vation of our natural resources, but we have looked upon the entire 
 question for too many years from a commercial viewpoint. But we 
 
 78634—13 3 
 
34 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 are only in recent times coming to understand that the conservation 
 of the real resources — man and woman — is of a higher and a first 
 consideration. 
 
 The Chairman. In other words, I presume, if we had no men and 
 no women, no human beings, we would not care what became of our 
 other natural resources? 
 
 Mr. Gompeks. Long before America was discovered and given to 
 the world the resources were here. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I do not want to interrupt you, but do you not 
 believe there is coming to be a greater realization of the importance 
 of preserving and developing our physical, moral, and mental re- 
 sources than there has been in the past? I mean the physical, moral, 
 and mental resources of human kind. 
 
 Mr. Gompees. Yes. It has taken years of sacrifice and hard work 
 to bring that realization to people, but it is coming, and much of it 
 is here now. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Largely due to the efforts of the organized labor 
 movement ? 
 
 Mr. Gompeks. Yes ; I think that is true. It is because I have been 
 so closely identified with the movement from my early boyhood up 
 to this present day that I sometimes hesitate to take credit for the 
 organized labor movement. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You are modest, and your modesty prevents you 
 from taking the credit. 
 
 Mr. Gompees. I prefer to have you rather than me say that, Mr. 
 Buchanan. 
 
 The Chairman. Mr. Gompers, the witnesses who preceded you 
 expressed a fear if the hours of labor were reduced for women, that 
 it would result in a corresponding reduction in the compensation. 
 In the years of experience that you have had in labor matters, have 
 you found that a reduction in the hours of labor in any kind of 
 industry resulted in a corresponding, or in any, reduction in the rate 
 of compensation ? 
 
 Mr. Gompees. Speaking generally, no; and yet definitely and 
 accurately, 35 years ago, a definite effort was started for the estab- 
 lishment of an 8-hour day in some industries in which we advocated 
 the acceptance of a slight reduction in wages to accompany the 
 reduction in hours of labor because we were not sufficiently strong 
 to enforce the shorter workday, and in order to overcome the short- 
 sightedness and the opposition of the employers we offered the ac- 
 ceptance of the reduction of wages, corresponding with the reduc- 
 tion of the hours of labor, confident that the very near and almost 
 immediate result would be an increase in these wages. 
 
 Mr. Wilson. Have you found that to be the case ? 
 
 Mr. Gompers. It is a law as invariable as the law of gravitation, 
 that wherever the hours of labor are reduced wages are increased. 
 You can compare any one country with another country and vou 
 will find it to be an absolute fact, that where the hours of labor are 
 least there the wages are highest. I do not want anyone in follow- 
 ing out this view to fling at me the old worn-out jest, that following 
 that to its logical conclusion, that if you do not work at all then you 
 ought to have still higher wages. Even if that be hurled at us as 
 an objection, or to place us in a ridiculous light, I think we can truly 
 
HOTJKS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 35 
 
 say in answer that even if that is true, that you will find that those 
 who do the least work are those who -receive the highest incomes. 
 
 I am speaking of a normal workday. You compare any two 
 States in our own -country and you will find that where the hours of 
 labor are long that wages are— I was going to say shortest— are 
 lowest. Let us carry the illustration still further. In two indus- 
 tries in any one State you will find the same thing will obtain. 
 Compare any two factories in any one industry or any two occupa- 
 tions in any one locality and you will find that where the hours of 
 labor are longest, there the wages are lowest. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Mr. Gompers, is that not likely to be due to the cir- 
 cumstance that the weakness of the employee makes the long day 
 and the low wages — where he is strong he gets a fair day, where he 
 is strong in every case he gets a fair wage, where he is organized 
 he can get his rights in most respects, where he is unorganized he 
 has not force enough for either. 
 
 Mr. Gompers. That is very true. It is also true that where un- 
 organized workers have had their hours of labor reduced, it has been 
 invariably followed by an increase of wages. For instance, in a 
 common industry, the needle (garment) industry, for years and 
 years they were trying- to enter upon some great revolt. They were 
 unorganized. They had occasionally made tremendous sacrifices 
 revolting, and after a while the employers would concede the con- 
 ditions. Then when the revolt died the employers would go along 
 and as the opportunity was presented filch away these concessions 
 from the workers. Again the workers would toil long hours and 
 under low-wage conditions — the sweatshop and the subcontractor 
 and all the evils of the system. 
 
 I say that was repeated every two or three years until about three 
 years ago. They were unorganized before these struggles, organ- 
 ized only for the struggle, and then when improvements came they 
 would disintegrate. Three years ago, with the inauguration of that 
 great strike, involving about 120,000 women and men, probably one- 
 fifth of whom were men, eveiy effort was made to prevent the usual 
 stampede, to prevent the disintegration of the organization that had 
 secured the changed conditions. They were not well organized, but 
 they did secure a shorter workday and an increase in wages. The 
 great strike that has been going on for the past four weeks in the 
 garment industry in some of the branches the hours of labor have 
 been reduced and wages have been increased. Before the strike they 
 were unorganized, during the strike they were organized; and if I 
 read accurately the incidents of our contemporaneous struggles the} r 
 are going to remain organized, and the old folly of disintegrating 
 and then returning to an increase of the hours of labor and the 
 resultant reduction of wages — that era has passed, I think, in the 
 needle trade of New York, and it is going to pass in the other trades. 
 
 If I may be permitted to speak of another matter, although it 
 may be extraneous to this subject, the thought comes to me and 
 presses upon me for expression. In the old time, when there ap- 
 peared upon the distant industrial horizon any depressing influence, 
 the employers of labor resorted to a reduction in wages as their first 
 means to find a way out of the industrial depression. The organized 
 movement gave warning to the employers that that policy had to be 
 stopped, that the working people would resist a reduction in wages at 
 
36 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 any and all hazards, and even though we were defeated, we would 
 rather — to paraphrase an old line — we would rather fight and lose 
 than not fight at all, rather resist and lose than not resist at all ; and 
 we have not had since then any extended or concentrated effort on 
 the part of employers to attempt reductions in wages. 
 
 So, in this instance, the only application these facts have here is 
 that with this organized-labor movement encouraging and helping 
 the women and the men in the needle trade to learn the lesson of 
 associated effort, all the remaining evils, the sweat-shop conditions, 
 contractor and subcontractor, this home work that makes a sweatshop 
 of the bedroom, that almost defies humanity in trying to save the 
 children from disease, will be abolished. These have got to stop, and 
 I think they are going to stop. 
 
 Gentlemen of the committee, I urge that you report this bill to the 
 House with your favorable recommendations that it do pass. I am 
 not quite so sure that the parliamentary situation of the present 
 Congress, particularly in the House of Representatives, gives us 
 much hope for the enactment of this bill at the present session of 
 Congress; but let us have, if we can not get more, let us at least have 
 the recommendation of this Committee on Labor to the House and 
 to the country that a bill of this character should be enacted into 
 law. With that prestige I think we shall have made considerable 
 progress. 
 
 I am not given to the flattery of men, but since perhaps this will 
 be the last time that I shall have the opportunity of appearing be- 
 fore the Committee on Labor of the House of Representatives of this 
 Congress, I ought not to close without expressing another thing in 
 connection with that fact. The Committee on Labor of the House of 
 Representatives has become one of the greatest committees in the con- 
 structive work of our Government, and if in the future Congresses the 
 committee is made up of brainy men, of men with hearts and con- 
 sciences which beat in unison and are attuned to each other, the 
 Committee on Labor of the House will be the dominating factor in 
 the legislation of our country, for it is coming to be realized that the 
 day of merely or purely political statesmanship is at an end and that 
 the era has opened for industrial and human statesmanship. To the 
 Committee on Labor I want to say on my own behalf — and I think 
 I am justified in saying for the men and women of labor whom I 
 have the honor to represent — that they are grateful and appreciative 
 of the work and intelligence and faithfulness of the members of the 
 Committee on Labor of this House whom I have now the honor to 
 address. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Before you leave, I notice this bill is restricted to 
 women workers. Are you informed as to whether there are any re- 
 strictions in regard to hours now for male workers in the District; 
 if so 
 
 Mr. Gompers. Goverment employees and those who are working 
 for contractors who are doing work for the Government. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. I, of course, refer to private employment, as this bill 
 does. 
 
 Mr. Gompers. There is no such law applying to the workers of the 
 District of Columbia who are employed by private employers. 
 
HOURS OF LABOE FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 37 
 
 The Chairman. But there are mutual contracts entered into be- 
 tween employers and their employees regulating the hours of labor, 
 are there not? 
 
 Mr. Gompers. Yes ; and the 8-hour day generally prevails. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Coming directly to the point, is there a serious reason 
 why the bill should not be made to apply to male as well as to female 
 workers? 
 
 Mr. Gompers. I would not advocate it. I regard the women work- 
 ers and minors as particularly the concern of the Government. I 
 want the men to secure the 8-hour day by their own effort, by their 
 own individual and their associated effort. I do not think it is a good 
 thing to coddle our men too much. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. I think, in view of this possible condition, that if there 
 is no restriction upon the number of hours a male can work and there 
 is a restriction of 8 hours upon the female, the natural thing, where 
 both male and female workers can do the work, would be to discharge 
 the females and perhaps employ the men, who would be worked 16 
 hours. 
 
 Mr. Gompers. Nothing like that is likely to arise, because the men 
 in the year 1913 will not work 16 hours. Consequently if the hours 
 of labor are reduced for the girls and the women, you will find that 
 they can and they will do better and more work. It is not increasing 
 expense of the business of an employer by reducing the hours of labor, 
 but, to the contrary, as I gave some illustration, or tried to illustrate, 
 by a few instances, of the result of a reduction in the hours of labor 
 and the^ comparative conditions between any establishment whose 
 hours of labor are long and those where they are short, I omitted to 
 mention or to use this as an illustration to state that where, as a 
 matter of fact, the hours of labor are generally short industry has 
 more largely developed. It seems there is a process of elimination 
 that industry can only be successfully conducted by large enterprises. 
 Whether that is good or bad is not the question ; but I do know that, 
 while I have not one thing to say commending the course pursued 
 by the large captains of industry, it is true that in most instances with 
 the employers of labor who employ very few people conditions gen- 
 erally are poor 
 
 Mr. Lewis. You think, then, there would be no possible danger of 
 eliminating the opportunity of employment for women because there 
 was no restriction on the hours as to the men ? 
 
 Mr. Gompers. I say that, for instance, in this species of legislation 
 in old England and in New England, to restrict the hours of labor, 
 there never has been any attempt made to secure a' limitation of the 
 hours of the male laborers of the textile industries. 
 
 It was always to limit the hours of labor of the women and chil- 
 dren. I do not employ the terms " women and children " in recent 
 years, and I will try to avoid that, because I think that children ought 
 not to be permitted to work, and hence the question of the regulation 
 of the hours of labor of children ought to be discountenanced ; their 
 labor should be entirely prohibited, but they come under the classi- 
 fication of women and minors and who under law are permitted to 
 work. At a hearing before a committee of the Massachusetts Legis- 
 lature some years ago, when we advocated the 54-hour week bill, a 
 representative of the Arkwright Club, an attorney for the New Eng- 
 
38 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 land textile manufacturers, made this statement : " If you take the 
 women and children out of our mills you take the heart out of the 
 industry." The words seethed in my brain and in my heart, and I 
 have never forgotten them. That is, the thing he intended to say 
 was, " If you limit the hours of labor of women and children in the 
 mills we have got to close down the mills." In other words, he meant 
 that the mills would not be able to work when the Avomen's and chil- 
 dren's time is up. When they are jointly employed in any establish- 
 ment and you take the women and the minors out of the plant the 
 plant has got to close up, except the branches which are engaged-in 
 the preparation of the work. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is it not your experience that where the shortest 
 hours and the most favorable conditions prevail for industry in this 
 country — or, we will say, in the different parts of the country — you 
 will find the greatest efficiency of the workers and the labor cost of 
 the product in that industry is the cheapest, as a rule ? 
 
 Mr. Gompers. Not cheapest — lowest. The fact of the matter is, 
 the cost is less wherever the hours of labor are reduced and more 
 modern methods of production are introduced. 
 
 The Chairman. I would like to call the attention of the committee 
 to the fact that it is now 15 minutes after 12 o'clock, and I would like 
 to ask Mr. Peters, who has been in charge of the witnesses here, 
 whether it is his intention to present any more witnesses before the 
 committee and if he desires any further hearing? 
 
 Mr. Peters. No; Mr. Chairman. I think the committee has had 
 presented to it a very clear view of the situation, and we sincerely 
 appreciate the length of time the committee has given to thtf discus- 
 sion of the matter and urgently ask for the committee's consideration 
 of the bill as speedily as possible, on account of the situation on the 
 calendar in the House. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Is this restriction to women and minors a reaction 
 from your constitutional view of the subject? 
 
 Mr. Peters. No ; not at all. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Is there any objection to inserting a restriction with 
 regard to men, so far as you are concerned? 
 
 Mr. Peters. I would not want that in there, because I think it 
 would very seriously jeopardize the passage of the bill. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. You mean weaken its political possibilities? 
 
 Mr. Peters. I think it would weaken its possibilities of getting 
 through the House and Senate, with the result of not getting any 
 legislation on the subject through at all. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. You are like the German professor who said that poli- 
 tics is the science of possibilities. 
 
 Thereupon, at 12.20 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned. 
 
HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 39 
 
 Committee on Labor, 
 House of Eepeesentatives, 
 Thursday, February 6, 1913. 
 The committee was called to order at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. William 
 B. Wilson (chairman) presiding. 
 
 STATEMENT OF ME. E. P. ANDEEWS, ACTING PEESIDENT OF THE 
 EETAIL MEECHANTS' ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I 
 appear before -you as the acting president of the Eetail Merchants' 
 Association of the city of Washington who have placed themselyes on 
 record as opposed to the passage of this eight-hour law in its present 
 shape. 
 
 The Chairman. Will you state, for the information of the com- 
 mittee. Mr. Andrews, just what the Retail Merchants' Association is 
 composed of? 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Just what the words imply — the retail merchants of 
 the city of Washington. 
 
 The Chairman. Does it comprise all the retail merchants? 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Not all of them, but I presume a majority of the 
 larger retail merchants. 
 
 The Chairman. It does not take in the smaller retail merchants? 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Oh, yes. It is of very mixed character. One or 
 two of the largest are not in the association and some of the largest 
 are. Some of the smaller ones are not in the association and some 
 are. 
 
 The Chairman. I just wanted to get an idea of the composition of 
 the association. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. I would like to introduce some of our members 
 here and some of their employees if I may, so they can give their tes- 
 timony, and I would like to ask Mr. King to speak a moment first. 
 
 Mr. Harry King. Mr. Chairman and gentleman, I would like to 
 make this statement before proceeding further, that the Chamber of 
 Commerce of the District of Columbia, through its board of directors, 
 representing over 700 men in mercantile and professional life, last 
 evening placed itself on record as opposing the passage of the Peters 
 bill.. I would like to introduce Mr. Thomas Grant, the secretary of 
 the Chamber of Commerce, who will read you the resolution. 
 
 STATEMENT OF ME. THOMAS GEANT, SECEETAEY OF THE 
 CHAMBEE OF COMMECE OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Mr. Grant. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, as Mr. King stated, the 
 board of directors last night, after a very lengthy discussion on the 
 Peters bill, which, it was understood, was identical with Senate bill 
 7723, passed the following resolution : 
 
 Washington Chamber of Commerce, 
 
 February 5, 1913. 
 
 During the regular monthly meeting of the board of directors this date the 
 following, after a lengthy discussion, was adopted unanimously : 
 
 "Resolved by the board of directors of the Washington Chamber of Commerce 
 (composed of over 700 business and professional men of the District of Co- 
 lumbia), That having carefully considered the provisions of S. 7723 and H. E. 
 
40 HOUBS OF LABOE FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
 
 27281, being bills to regulate the hours of employment of women, etc., we are 
 
 unanimously opposed to their passage and recommend to the Senate and House 
 
 of Represent a fives that they be not enacted into law." 
 
 True copy. 
 
 Thomas Gbant, Secretary. 
 
 The secretary was directed to appear before the House committee having the 
 above measure under consideration and present the foregoing resolution. 
 
 Thomas Gbant, Secretary. 
 
 The Chairman. May I ask, Mr. Grant, how many of your members 
 were present when this matter was considered? 
 
 Mr. Grant. Simply the board of directors, sir. We had 90 per 
 cent of the board present last night. 
 
 The Chairman. An attendance of about 90 per cent ? 
 
 Mr. Grant. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Eouse. How many members of the board ? 
 
 Mr. Grant. Thirty. 
 
 Mr. Eouse. And that was a unanimous resolution ? 
 
 Mr. Grant. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to inquire what the total membership of 
 the association is ? 
 
 Mr. Grant. Between 700 and 800. 
 
 Mr. Howard. And this matter was not considered except by the 
 board of directors? 
 
 Mr. Grant. Simply the board of directors of the Chamber of Com- 
 merce. 
 
 Mr. Howard. And they were not all there ? 
 
 Mr. Grant. About a 90 per cent attendance — the regular monthly 
 meeting of the board. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to inquire further: Was there any ac- 
 tion taken by all the members to instruct the executive committee 
 in regard to this resolution, or was this resolution taken on the initia- 
 tive of the board of directors only ? 
 
 Mr. Grant. On the initiative of the board of directors only, be- 
 cause we have had no meeting of our organization in time to handle 
 this matter. The entire body of the organization does not meet 
 until the 11th of this month. They undoubtedly will take the same 
 action. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. GEORGE A. HEBBARD, 606 NINTH STREET, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Mr. Chairman, I represent the merchant tailors and 
 am also secretary of the local exchange of merchant tailors. As I 
 stated before the Senate committee, most of the work in the tailor- 
 ing business is piecework and the help get paid accordingly. The 
 working hours are generally arranged to suit conditions and the 
 salary. If they do not want to work overtime they do not have to. 
 It seems in the tailoring business the time is so short and experienced 
 help extremely hard to secure. I will not say anything further on 
 this line, but I will introduce a couple of the ladies who will speak 
 on the conditions of the labor. 
 
 The Chairman. Before introducing the witnesses, might I ask 
 whether it would not be physically just as hard upon a woman in the 
 
HOURS OP LABOR TOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 41 
 
 tailoring business to work more than eight hours voluntarily as it 
 would be if it was not voluntary ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Under this bill, as I read it, ladies are compelled to 
 work only eight hours and are not allowed any overtime. There is no 
 other trade, or anything in the men's line, in which they can work 
 overtime. I am simply speaking of the conditions of the business— 
 the seasons and the conditions during the seasons. 
 
 The Chairman. This bill, if I understand it correctly, is based 
 upon the principle that there is a physical necessity for limiting the 
 hours of women and female children. Now, my question is based 
 upon that presumption of the intent of the bill. Would it not be just 
 as hard physically, just as injurious physically, for a woman to work 
 more than eight hours, because of the inducement of being paid for 
 overtime, as it would be if she was required to work the eight hours 
 by virtue of your direction ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I do not know. They can answer that question 
 themselves in regard to overtime. I have a lady here who has been 
 working for me for over 15 years, and I think she is better prepared 
 to answer that question than I am. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You know nothing about the physical endurance 
 of your employees ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. We have never asked a lady to work overtime if 
 she did not feel disposed to. The work in the tailoring business is 
 mostly sitting anyhow and it is not laborious work. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Have you considered that part of it — the physical 
 endurance of employees in regard to the hours of labor? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Yes, sir; I have. I have had lots of experience. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. But you never came to any conclusion about it — 
 whether it was hard on them or not? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I never noticed it was hard on them. I never had 
 any complaints because they would simply starve to death if they 
 did not make extra time during the season when they had work to 
 do. The season in Washington is extremely short. 
 
 The Chairman. Do I understand from that statement that the 
 wages in this industry are so low that if women do not have an 
 opportunity to work overtime they would starve to death? 
 
 Mr. Hebbakd. The ladies can answer that wage question them- 
 selves. The wages here are positively good, better than in any city 
 I know of in the East, and I say now there is a lot of Avork goes out 
 of Washington to nearby cities because we can not get sufficient help, 
 and we are willing to pay all kinds of prices to get good help. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What are some of the prices you pay? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. About the lowest you can get a good girl to work 
 on piecework is $10 a week. It is very hard to get tailors to take 
 apprentice girls and teach them. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How long do thev have to work on piecework to 
 earn $10? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Nine hours a day. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. In the form of work, how many pieces ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. We pay so much for a vest and so much for trousers. 
 Girls work on different' parts. A girl can make two or three or four 
 pairs of trousers a day. We pay a foreman and he pays the help. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Your foreman is the contractor who contracts to 
 do the work? 
 
42 HOURS OF LABOE FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. We simply give them the work and they agree to 
 pay them so much according to the price they get for the garment. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You pay the foreman so much and he pays the 
 help so much ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Yes, sir; and the girls very often get the work up 
 and take work home and put buttonholes in at nights. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Some people imagine this is the basis of the 
 sweatshop operation. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I would like to know if there are any sweatshops 
 in Washington. I have been here 24 years and I have not seen any, 
 and I have been around to the different shops with a representative 
 from the Bureau of Labor to get statistics and go over the question 
 of wages with him, and the shops have been pretty thoroughly 
 investigated in Washington, and I do not know of any sweatshops 
 here. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do they have to work at night in order to make 
 that $10 a week? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. No. sir. They get $10 a week for the nine hours, 
 and if they work overtime they get paid for it. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I understood you to say they worked piecework. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. During the season. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do they earn $10 a week whether they do a cer- 
 tain amount of work or not, but simply if they do a certain amount 
 of work they earn $10? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. It varies. Some work on piecework and some work 
 nine hours a day and then overtime. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do you have a minimum basis of wages for them 
 no matter how many pieces they make? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. ]STo ; we have not a minimum wage in regard to the 
 amount of work they do. I have a girl working in the store there 
 and some days we will not do anything, but I pay her just the same. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. She is on the day-wage basis? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How about these tailoresses? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I have not had time to go into that in detail, but 
 from the talk of the girls, I know that girls who can do any kind of 
 sewing at all make about $10 a week. Some girls who simply do 
 apprentice work make less, but good girls get very good wages, and 
 they are hard to get. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. And it would require a good girl — an expert 
 worker to make $10 a week. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. No. sir ; not an expert. The girl now who gets $10 
 used to get $5 a few years ago. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How much can an expert make? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. We have girls who make $35 and $40 a week. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What part of the work do they follow ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Vest making. 
 
 "Sir. Buchanan. A special kind of vest? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. We pay more for n full vest than we do for a plain 
 vest. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. About what proportion of the girls earn $30 or 
 $35 a week? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Not very many; but they have earned as high as 
 that. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 43- 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is the work all done by the piece? 
 
 Mr. Hebbakd. Every time we have coats, vests, and trousers; they 
 are by the piece. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Does it make any difference to the merchants 
 whether they have long hours or short hours ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. It does not make any difference to me about the 
 hours, but it is the conditions. If we can not get the Avork made up 
 they pack it up and send it out to outside cities, as far as Rochester, 
 in order to get it done. 
 
 The Chairman. Is that not true of every city in the country — 
 that there is some work that is always sent out to some other place to 
 have done? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Possibly so ; but I am not versed in regard to other 
 cities; I am talking about Washington. I was born and raised here. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Is there any agreement between the merchants as to 
 the price they pay their help for making garments ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Xo agreement at all ; no, sir. You can get a suit of 
 clothes for $10 or for $60 — any price at all. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MISS ALICE C. WOODRUFF, 812 R STREET, WASH- 
 INGTON, D. C. 
 
 The Chairman. What is your occupation? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Tailoress. 
 
 The Chairman. Where are you employed. Miss Woodruff. 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Eighth and F Streets. 
 
 The Chairman. What firm? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Harrison & Bank. 
 
 The Chairman. For what number of hours are you now employed ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Nine hours. 
 
 The Chairman. Nine hours ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Are you ever required to work more than 9 hours ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, no sir; not required, unless it is necessary. 
 
 The Chairman. Does it ever become necessary for you to work 
 more than 9 hours? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. In seasons ; yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. How long are those seasons? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, generally from Easter, I can say, until after 
 Decoration day. 
 
 The Chairman. That is one season. Are there any other seasons? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. The winter season ; yes, sir ; well, from about the 
 middle of October until Christmas. 
 
 The Chairman. So there are two busy seasons of the year? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. In these busy seasons what are the number ot hours 
 that you are expected to work, or required to work, or do work? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, we are not required to work any special 
 number of hours, and we really do not have to do it unless we want 
 to ; we are not compelled to do it. 
 
 The Chairman. How many hours do you work? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. I generally average about, in the real busy season. 
 10 or 12 hours a week. 
 
 The Chairman. Ten or 12 hours a week overtime i 
 
44 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. That is in addition to 9 hours per day? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes : sir. Of course, some work more than that. 
 
 The Chairman. There are some who work more than that? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir; and some less. 
 
 The Chairman. What is the greatest amount of overtime that you 
 know of being worked during that season? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, I could not very well answer that. In our 
 room that is about as much as we do with the ladies. 
 
 The Chairman. Ten or 12 hours per week is the amount of over- 
 time that you are in the habit of working ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir; that I am in the habit of working. 
 
 The Chairman. That would make your day's work anywhere from 
 11 to 12 hours per day? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes ; if I work overtime. 
 
 The Chairman. When you are working, that is extra time? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. How long have you been working at the tailoring 
 business ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Fifteen years. 
 
 The Chairman. What wages are you able to earn during the busy 
 season? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Do you mean the week's wages, or overtime? 
 
 The Chairman. Week's wages. 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Twelve to fourteen dollars, not including over- 
 time. That is regular wages all the time, the year round, if we work. 
 Of course, we only get paid for the time we work, not for the week. 
 
 The Chairman. Are you paid by the hour? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Paid by the day. 
 
 The Chairman. Then you are not paid by the piece? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir ; I do not work by the piece. 
 
 The Chairman. Are your associates paid by the piece, or are they 
 paid by the day? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. We work by the day only. 
 
 The Chairman. How are you paid for overtime? Are you paid at 
 the same rate per hour for overtime? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No ; more. 
 
 The Chairman. You are paid more per hour? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. How much more? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. We average 25 and 30 cents an hour. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you find a general objection to the 8-hour bill — 
 the Peters 8-hour bill — among those you are associated with in the 
 tailoring business ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Not among the employees ; no, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. They are not generally opposed to it ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Not that I know of ; no, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. They would rather have an 8-hour work dav than 
 a longer work day? 
 
 Miss Woodrcff. I think so. 
 
 The Chairman. Are there any men engaged in the establishment in 
 which you are employed? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
HOURS OF LABOE FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 45 
 
 The Chairman. Doing the same kind of work you are engaged in ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, the same kind of work ;* but the men do not 
 do the same kind of work the ladies do. 
 
 The Chairman. Different parts? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. There are different parts we have to do. 
 
 The Chaieman. Are they paid a greater or less wage than you are 
 paid for the same number of hours ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. The men are paid more. 
 
 The Chairman. And do they do any more skillful work than the 
 women do? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, I guess so. A lady can not do what a man 
 does generally in the tailoring business. 
 
 The Chaieman. And do they turn out more work per day than the 
 women turn out per day ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, I do not know, sir. There seems to be a 
 part of the tailoring that the ladies do not do. There are parts of 
 the coat or garment that the man does that a lady does not gen- 
 erally do. 
 
 The Chairman. But there is not any rule in the trade that would 
 prevent a woman from doing that other kind of work ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir ; I guess not. 
 
 The Chairman. It is a custom? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. But it is harder work. 
 
 The Chairman. In connection with the work is there a heavier 
 goose used by the men than the women use? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir; we do not use anything like that at all. 
 The ladies in our work do not use any irons or any gooses or 
 any boards; we simply do the finishing and the buttonholes. That 
 is generally a lady's work in our workrooms. Of course, I suppose 
 in the sweatshops the ladies have that to do. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I would like to answer that question. In the tailor- 
 ing business the ladies do not have any heavy work to do at all. The 
 men do the pressing entirely, attending to the irons, and the running 
 of the machines. 
 
 The Chairman. In this establishment? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. In a majority of the establishments in Washington. 
 
 The Chairman. Is that general throughout the country, or just 
 specially in Washington ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I am not acquainted with the conditions in other 
 places, but I know that is positively the rule in Washington. I would 
 like to ask Miss Woodruff this question: In regard to this overtime, 
 if this overtime was cut out, would it reduce the earnings a great deal ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Certainly it would ; yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. And in the summer time you would not make enough 
 to pay your board ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. We would have to go off somewhere. Yes, the 
 overtime we make in this short season helps us through the dull season, 
 because we do not make enough in the dull season to get along on. 
 
 The Chairman. You would not expect the people to go without 
 clothes simply because of the fact that you were limited to the 8-hour 
 work day? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Would it not naturally result, then, in that work 
 being done some other day rather than in the evening? 
 
46 HOURS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mks Woodruff. Why, no. The season would be so short we could 
 not get that work done. 
 
 The Chairman. That gets back to the whole proposition: If you 
 would not get the work done on the clothes, the people could noi 
 wear them ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. They would go somewhere else. Then I suppose 
 somebody else would make them, and we would just simply lose the 
 work ; we would not have anything to do. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You stated that your salary was from $12 to $14 
 a week. 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir ; if we work all week.' 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. It is not by the week, then? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir; it is by the week or by the day; but if we 
 lose one day we only get paid for five. If we work four, we get paid 
 for four. So that reduces our week's wages. We only get paid for 
 the time we work. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do you find that sufficient to live comfortably? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, we have it to do. Then this overtime helps 
 lis on very much. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do your employers inquire about your living — 
 whether you are able to live in comfort? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well ; no, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Whether your wages are sufficient? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do they offer to increase them? [^° answer.] 
 It is not steady, then ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No; it is not steady. It is on season's work. In 
 dull seasons we have something to do, but not very much. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What, in your opinion, would be the average 
 weekly wages the year round ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. On an average ? Well, I do not know, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You do not have any idea of Avhat proportion of 
 lost time you have? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. We lose a great deal of time during July and 
 August ; there is scarcely anything to do at all. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Two months lost almost altogether? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir; and there is January and February. 
 February is generally lost, too. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. That would be four months out of the year. 
 
 Miss Woodruff. It is practically lost; we do not count it at all. 
 
 The Chairman. But you get about an average of $12 a week for 
 eight months ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir; we do not average that, because a good 
 many of these days we lose half a day and a day a week. 
 
 Mr. Howard. How do you mean lose half a day ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. There is not work. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you mean to say if you report for work at your 
 tailor shop you lose half a day ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. If there is no work we go home. 
 
 Mr. Howard. And you work 3 or 4 hours ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. We get paid for that. 
 
 Mr. How t ard. And you only get paid for 3 or 4 hours ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Although you are there ready to work on that day? 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 47 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir; if we work half a day and there is no 
 more we go home. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Where is your product sold ? Chiefly in the city, or in 
 other cities? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Chiefly in the city. 
 
 Mr. Howard. What is the average weekly wages of the employees 
 in your shop ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Of ladies? 
 
 Mr. Howard. Yes. 
 
 Miss Woodruff. From $10 to $12 a week. 
 
 Mr. Howard. That is the average during the year ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. That includes the overtime? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. That includes the average daily work hours? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir ; 9 hours a day. 
 
 The Chairman. You mean that $12 per week would be the full 
 amount of wages that you would earn if you were working six 9-hour 
 days? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir ; 9 hours a day. 
 
 The Chairman. And you would have deducted from your wages 
 any time that you worked less than that 9 hours per day? That 
 would be deducted from your $12 ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. If you worked any more than 6 days at 9 hours 
 per day, you would have the additional amount added to your wages? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir ; so much an hour. 
 
 The Chairman. And you lose during the year, approximately, 
 4 months of time? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Now, what proportion of that is made up as the 
 result of working overtime? 
 
 Miss Woodrltf. Well, really I could not say; it just depends on 
 how much we do. Of course, sometimes I work, may be, 5 hours a 
 week, or 6 or 7 ; it depends on the work in the room we have_to do. 
 
 •The Chairman. I thought you said during the busy season you 
 generally worked about 12 hours a week overtime ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. No sir ; I do not work more ; but there are other 
 places where, perhaps, the girls do. 
 
 Mr. Howard. If you work overtime, how much per hour do you 
 get? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Twenty-five cents. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Twenty-five cents an hour? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Yes, sir. , 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is that more than by your regular wages? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. At $12 a week, probably 2 cents and a half more. 
 
 Mr. Smith. What time are you expected to go to work in the 
 morning ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Eight o'clock. 
 
 Mr. Smith. And how long do you work then before you stop ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. We work until 12, 1 hour for lunch, and then 
 work until 6. 
 
48 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Chairman. During the busy season, when you are working 
 more than 9 hours per day, do you feel the strain of the work upon 
 you ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well, sometimes we do when we work more tnan 
 9 hours. Of course, we feel tired in the evenings when we go home, 
 but I never broke down ; I have been prostrated, though. 
 
 The Chairman. Have you ever felt in the mornings that you were 
 tired and not really refreshed and ready to go to work ? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Not specially. I have been working, now, for 15 
 years, and I have had, I think, one-half day that I left the workroom 
 sick and went home in those 15 years, as well as I can remember. 
 
 The Chairman. You are very healthy. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Are you a fair sample of all the ladies employed in 
 your shop? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well — yes. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What age were you when you started to work? 
 
 Miss Woodruff. Well — I do not know. I have been working 15 
 years ; I think that is sufficient. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MRS. LOVITZ, 108 FIFTEENTH STREET SE., 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The Chairman. Where are you employed? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. I make vests for Mr. Hebbarcl. I myself have a 
 shop. I. employ girls and men to work for me, and work for different 
 stores, t work for Mr. Hebbard also. 
 
 The Chairman. You supply vests for Mr. Hebbard? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. And you employ people to work for you? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. Three girls to work, besides myself and four men. 
 
 The Chairman. About what length of time? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. I would like to say that if my girls would not be 
 able to work overtime I would not be able to make a living. As you 
 know, vests are not worn in the summer ; men do not wear them, and 
 we have very little to do in the summer. Our season begins just a 
 little before Easter. Everybody wants a suit, and we are so busy 
 that if my girls could not work overtime I could not get the work 
 out; and I do not compel them to work. They are perfectly satisfied 
 to work. They said they loved to make overtime, because in the 
 summer they had plenty of rest. Mondays, if we do not have work — 
 if the cutter does not send anything to do we do not have work. 
 Then we will start Tuesday morning and work until Saturday. In 
 the season we work all week. In the summer time there is hardly 
 anything to do at all. There are very few men who wear vests, 
 and so if the girls will not be allowed to make overtime we could not 
 make a living and neither could they. As I say, there are not 
 enough vests worn to give us work the year round at the eight hours 
 a day. I do not object to the eight hours, and I am not compelling 
 anyone to work overtime. 
 
 The, Chairman. Is it not a matter of fact that you are not par- 
 ticularly anxious to work more than eight hours? It is simply a 
 question of getting the proper wages to live upon ? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. It is not possible for us to do that in the merchant 
 tailoring. I do not know how many vests I am going to get a week. 
 
HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 49 
 
 I may have so many in the summer, and in the seasons 10 times more. 
 If there are not vests to make I try to get them. Everybody who 
 has been working for me has been working for me for years, and I 
 have never been sick myself. I do not drive anyone. They simply 
 work and make as much as they can. 
 
 The Chairman. When did you say the spring season closes? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. The 30th of May. It is warm then, and very few 
 men are wearing vests. 
 
 The Chairman. When does the fall season begin? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. About the 15th of' September. 
 
 The Chairman. What do the girls do between the 30th of May 
 and the 15th of September? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. Why, they work during the week ; they work three or 
 four days during the week ; maybe only three. 
 
 The Chairman. And the balance of the time? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. I do not know what they do. 
 
 The Chairman. They are not engaged at other occupations? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. No; because if they would be engaged in occupa- 
 tions they could not attend to my place and the other ones also. 
 There is nothing else for them to get here to do, and it is very hard to 
 get experienced help in the tailoring business here. No one is driven. 
 You simply sit there and make as much as you can. That is all. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you confine your work entirely to making vests ? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. I do. 
 
 Mr. Hoavard. Could you not get coat work to do ? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. Men make that work. The men make the coats and 
 the trousers, and then they employ women to do the handwork. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Could you not shift your force from vests to 
 trousers ? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. No, sir; I never learned the trade. It is an impossi- 
 ble thing to do. If a storekeeper wired for an order consisting of 
 the pants and vest and coat, I could not fill the order. We each learn 
 our trade. 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. Half of the vests are sent out of Washington in the 
 season. If they can not get the work done here they send it over to 
 Baltimore to have it done. If we would not be allowed to make a 
 little overtime what would we do — what would my girls do ? 
 
 Mr. Smith. Could you not provide in an emergency like that by 
 employing more help ? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. I have three girls working for me now. They have 
 not enough to do all week. If I would take 6 girls how would I come 
 out? I get paid for piecework. Each one of them gets something 
 out of that vest. But in the summer time my expense goes on just 
 the same, but I have no work. I could not hire 6 girls instead of 3 
 when I do not need them. It would cost me $30 a week more. I get 
 the work from the stores. My girls work from 8 to 6, and I never 
 hurry them. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Are you paid by the week? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do girls of tender age work at that trade? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. No ; most of them are widows ; very few single girls. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. No young girls ? 
 
 78634—13 4 
 
50 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. I have one young girl ; she is 19 ; she is the youngest 
 The other one is married, and the other one is a widow. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is that the reason they have to work at thai 
 work — because they get married? 
 
 Mrs. Lovitz. It looks that way. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. WILIIAM J. EYNON, SECRETARY OF THI 
 BOARD OF TRADE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I am 
 manager of the Adams Printing Office. I work 8 hours a day. Oui 
 regular hours are 8 hours. We are called upon frequently to tak( 
 care of emergency orders. It is not unusual for a Congressman tc 
 come in our office at 4 o'clock to have something printed and mailed 
 that night. If this bill is passed we will, of necessity, have to dis- 
 place all of our women with men. We have about 18. 
 
 The Chairman. 18 women? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Yes, sir; from $8.50 to $22 a week. 
 
 The Chairman. What is the total number of your employees? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. About 60. We pay 50 per cent extra for overtime. 
 That is to say, if a girl works 2 hours a night she is paid for 3. We 
 can not anticipate rush orders; they are brought to us without notice, 
 and the nature of the business requires that the work be produced in 
 a rush. We would have to practically displace throughout the shop 
 the women with men if this bill is passed. 
 
 The Chaihman. How long do you generally keep your establish- 
 ment open now ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Our establishment closes at 5 o'clock. 
 
 The Chairman. Is that the general custom in printing estab- 
 lishments? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. It is. Eight hours a day prevails in 95 per cent of 
 the shops in the town. 
 
 The Chairman. What happens if a man wants a rush order after 
 5 o'clock? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. To-day, do you mean? 
 
 The Chairman. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Unless I was fortunate enough to be at the office and 
 willing to send out for help, he Avould have to go without. 
 
 The Chairman. He would have to wait until the next morning? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Yes ; but we have sent out for help at night. — had 
 the work produced after hours. It depends upon the nature of the 
 work. 
 
 The Chairman. Is it not, so far as you are concerned, really a 
 question of whether or not your competitors would have ;inv 
 advantage over you or not ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. No, sir; absolutely. We have absolutely no regard 
 for the other shops in the town. 
 
 The Chairman. If your competitors are upon the same basis as 
 you are, at what disadvantage would you be placed? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. None. I am not protesting against the bill, from tin 
 standpoint of disadvantage ; it is the question of service. 
 
 The Chairman. If you do not get the service you want vol 
 naturally feel you are at a disadvantage. 
 
HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 51 
 
 Mr. Eynon. I would get the service I want by displacing the 
 women by men, most assuredly. 
 
 The Chairman. What is the difference in the wages paid to your 
 women compared to men? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. None. We have one proof reader, who is a woman, 
 who is paid more than a man doing similar work. In our office 
 we pay according to the value of the service rendered, and women 
 are treated the same as men. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Are they paid by the hour or piece ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. They are paid by the day. We have no piecework. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to ask a question. I believe you stated 
 you had 60 employees in your shop ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Eighteen of those are females? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Now, I believe I understood you to say in the event 
 a Congressman or anybody else came down to your place at 4.30 
 o'clock with an order; that if this bill passed you would have to 
 discard those 18 women because of the fact that you could not fill 
 that order. Could you not call on your 42 men that night to do this 
 work ? Do these women do all the rush-order work ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Are you familiar with the printing business ? 
 
 Mr. Howard. Somewhat. I put an advertisement in a country 
 paper once. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Then your knowledge is limited. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Somewhat. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. We have several departments. In one department 
 the type is set by hand; in another department the type is set by 
 machinery. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Linotype? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Yes, sir; and we have a pressroom where we print 
 the sheets, and we have the bindery where the sheets are put together 
 in book form. Then, we have a proof room, where the proof is read ; 
 and we have women in the proof room and in the bindery, and, upon 
 rare occasions, women feeding a press. The rush orders that Con- 
 gressmen may bring to us, 90 per cent of the time, may be used in 
 the bindery. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Eight in the bindery in your establishment, are 
 they all ladies? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. All ladies. 
 
 Mr. Howard. How many? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. We have eight. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Now, to go to the next department. You have no 
 ladies operating linotypes? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Let me explain to you. Your order may require 90 
 per cent of the time being done in the bindery. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Will you explain to me how it would be possible 
 that 90 per cent of the time of my order, or any order I could give 
 in the business, could be confined to the bindery ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. I have an order of maps right now. The maps were 
 printed in 8 hours, about 10,000 copies, and it will take about 150 to 
 175 hours to fold them. 
 
 Mr. Howard. You do not confine it to an actual binding like a 
 book? 
 
52 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Not at all. We will take another order from you. 
 You are going to deliver a speech, and you are going to send out some 
 additional copies to the Associated Press possibly, or the United 
 Press. You want 50 copies, and it will contain, say, 50,000 words. 
 The bindery time on the job may amount to 1 hour; the prooi-room 
 time may amount to 30 hours. So it is not possible to use the ratio 
 of 18 to 60 to let the 42 men do the work of the 18, because there is 
 no way of anticipating that your orders are going to have 10 hours 
 or 100 hours, or only 1 hour, in the bindery, and the men who work 
 in the other departments are not experienced bindery hands. Con- 
 sequently we could not use them there. We would have people cut- 
 ting off their fingers, and all that. Nor could we take a bindery hand 
 to work on a typesetting machine, because he does not know anything 
 about it. It simply resolves itself down to the proposition that 
 women will have to be displaced by men if your law goes through. 
 
 Mr. Howard. If all the printing establishments are in exactly the 
 same position with regard to the employment of women, would that 
 not materially affect what would constitute rush orders, in regard 
 to the time delivery would be made ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. No, sir; my competitor does not set the standard m 
 my office. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I think you would have difficulty in demonstrating 
 that your competitor in the printing business does not have something 
 to say about it. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. I would like to say in the conduct of our shop we do 
 not think of our competitors. That may sound egotistical, but it is 
 true. 
 
 Mr. Howard. You do not have to meet competition ? 
 Mr. Eynon. We do 90 per cent of our work without estimates. 
 Mr. Howard. Would that not be simply on the same principle as 
 a grocer, who is living alongside of another grocer, and who would 
 say, " I do not have to meet competition, because I do not ask for 
 bids"? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. No, sir. You can not find in the city of Washington 
 two printers who will take the same job and figure it and arrive 
 at the same conclusion. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I think that is true everywhere so far as printing is 
 concerned. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. I think you will find when they come to figuring and 
 making their estimates, even where they are making bids, that they 
 would arrive at different conclusions. But that does not in any 
 manner brush aside the fact that they are competitors with each 
 other. 
 
 Mr. Howard. You would be placed on the same basis as every 
 other printer similarly situated. The law of competition would 
 equalize things, so that the rush order would, in some way, be taken 
 care of in the same hours. The purpose of my question was this: 
 Your closing hour is 5 o'clock. A man who conies with an order 
 after 5 o'clock now simply waits until the next day. and if you regu- 
 late the hours so as to make your closing time even earlier than that — 
 make it that or earlier — it simply means the man who comes to your 
 establishment can not go to the other fellow's establishment if you 
 are not able to fill the rush order. So you are exactly in the same 
 position from a competitive standpoint as now. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 53 
 
 :«■ Mr. Eynon. Then by that you would mean the public would have 
 to be educated to the point of— — 
 
 ,, Mr. Howard (interposing). "Waiting for the next train. 
 ' Mr. Eynon. And not ahead of the next train. We can not do that. 
 
 Mr. Howard. For instance, some time ago it was the custom for 
 stores to be open until 7 and 8 and 9 o'clock in the evening nearly all 
 the nights in the week, and since that time the custom has changed 
 very generally, and now 5 and 6 is a common hour for closing retail 
 stores in the evening. The public has accustomed themselves to 
 earlier closing, and my position is that, as all of your competitors 
 are in the same position, you would not be injured by the earlier clos- 
 ing required, but if there was any additional expense the community 
 would be required to bear it. 
 
 Mr. Eyxox. I simply want to bring to your attention the fact that 
 the women in our establishment would be displaced by men. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Your contention is the women would be injured 
 by it? 
 
 Mr. Eyxox. Most assuredly. Our business is of such a character 
 that we will be called upon, after your law is passed, to produce the 
 emergency work just the same. Our experience has been that the 
 lawyers, especially the busy ones in town, have the utmost difficulty - 
 in getting their copy prepared in time for the proper filing of their 
 briefs. 
 
 Mr. Howard. So the committee is to understand your interest in 
 this hearing at the present time is for the benefit of your employees ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Absolutely. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Have you an idea of the proportion of women engaged 
 in the printing trade in this city ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. I am familiar with my own shop, and I would have to 
 make a guess ; I would say the proportion would be about one in five. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Of the whole city? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You spoke of Congressmen coming with rush 
 orders. What proportion of this rush business comes from Members 
 of Congress 
 
 Mr. Eynon. It is very material. Some weeks we do not receive an 
 order from a Congressman, and then again we are very busy with 
 work from Congressmen. Of course, in your short session you have 
 only three months. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I mean when they are in session, what proportion 
 of your rush work would be from Congressmen ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. I have no idea. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Are your employees organized? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. In what Avay do you mean? 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do they belong to the union? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. The reason I ask is that the eight-hour day, I 
 believe, is the day the organization has established ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. We have an eight-hour day in our office. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. And Congressmen, when they are seeking the 
 votes of the laboring people of the country, usually get their print- 
 ing done from the union labor. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. May I say something on that point? 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Oh, yes. 
 
54 HOUBS OF LABOE FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTBIOT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. ErNON. I want to say that those Congressmen have been re- 
 garding the labor proposition through the wrong end of the opera 
 glass. We operated a union shop some years ago, and the labor 
 unions attempted to dictate to us how we should operate our office, 
 and in three months it costs us $30,000 to get away from the labor 
 union. We operate to-day the same number of hours that the union 
 shop operates. We have many employees in our shop who receive 
 more than union wages, some as high as 50 per cent, and I would 
 say they are 25 per cent more efficient — that is, the organization I 
 have to-day than I had 10 years ago. 
 
 The Chairman. Is it not true in union printing establishments 
 there are many men paid above the minimum wage scale of the 
 union ? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Not in what you call the open shop. 
 
 The Chairman. And not as large a proportion? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. No, sir; because in the union shop the efficient man 
 receives the same wage as the inefficient man, and the efficient man 
 is thereby helping the inefficient. 
 
 The Chairman. Is it not true in the union shops in printing estab- 
 lishments that the wages vary '. That there are some men paid much 
 higher wages than others are paid, but that none are paid below 
 the union scale? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. You are right. Our minimum wage in our office is 
 the same as the minimum wage in the union offices, but our maximum 
 wage is greater than in union offices in the city of Washington, and 
 the reason for that is apparent. We pay for efficiency. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. The union does not object to paying more than 
 the scale of charges. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. But they object to having their men work in our 
 office, even though we pay them more. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I am talking about where they do work. 
 
 The Chairman. I judge the feeling is mutual, that they object 
 to their men working in your shop, and you object to having them 
 work in your shop. 
 
 Mr. Eynon. No; we have attempted to have them work in our 
 shops, but it is against their rules to permit them to work there. I 
 think they are narrowminded. I think the time will come when they 
 will work in our shop. I think a man has a right to work for whom 
 he pleases and at the wages he pleases. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Or not to work? 
 
 Mr. Eynon. Certainly. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you not think, Mr. Chairman, we are deviating 
 somewhat from this investigation. 
 
 The Chairman. Yes. I think the point is well taken. The sub- 
 ject matter under discussion is not pertinent to the bill before us. 
 
 STATEMENT OF ME. HARRY KING, KING'S PALACE DEPARTMENT 
 STORE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. King. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, for me 
 to say that this is a bad and vicious measure would be as unjust as 
 for its advocates to insist that in its present form it is a fair and 
 equitable one. 
 
HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 55 
 
 Speaking for myself, and I believe I voice the sentiment of the 
 majority of Washington merchants, I have no objection to legislation 
 that looks to the betterment of feminine labor conditions, and while 
 I realize that a change from the present conditions will necessitate 
 considerable expense and much work on our part, I, for one, am 
 willing to meet the proposition halfway. 
 
 But it does not seem to me wise, and it certainly is unjust, to try 
 and reach the millenium for one party with one fell swoop without 
 any consideration as to how such a changed condition will affect two 
 other parties, and even the party the legislation is trying to help, for 
 there are three parties vitally concerned in this matter. The first is 
 the women employees, the second is the merchant, and the third party 
 is the public. 
 
 Instead of opposing this bill, I would suggest an amendment that 
 would limit the employment of women to not more than 54 hours per 
 week, an average of 9 hours per day. This would reduce the aver- 
 age present working day at least one hour. Congress is in session 
 every year, and a goodly part of each year. If the experiment proves 
 practicable and a further lessening of the working hour possible, we 
 will be better equipped one year from now to decide upon the wis- 
 dom or unwisdom of reducing the working hours of women in the 
 District to the minimum set by the United States Government. 
 
 Unless we are careful in regard to this legislation we are very likely 
 to injure those whom we would help, the women employees. It would 
 be an ideal condition if women did not have to labor for hire at all. 
 But in most cases necessity compels their seeking employment, and 
 the ever-increasing number of women entering the business world has 
 created a new condition of affairs in the country. So many lines of 
 endeavor are now open to women, and competition has increased their 
 wages until to-day they are paid all that the quality and the quantity 
 of their labor warrants. Already the number of women desiring 
 positions in department stores far exceeds the demand. Every day 
 we are compelled to turn down the applications of would-be sales- 
 ladies. 
 
 Now, then, gentlemen, I come to what seems to me the most serious 
 question that arises on account of this proposed legislation— -not from 
 the merchants' standpoint, but, from the standpoint of those whom 
 this bill is supposed to help. 
 
 I will begin by asking the question, " Who is going to pay for this 
 time if a drastic change is made? " For it must be plain to you, 
 gentlemen, that you can not produce the same amount of revenue in 
 an 8-hour working day that can be produced in 10 hours, as the con- 
 dition now exists, nor even in 9 hours that I suggest as a minimum. 
 
 The merchant is not going to, because he can not. Ketail merchan- 
 dising to-day is being done on a smaller margin of profit than ever 
 before in the history of the country— and this is particularly true of 
 the department store. With the cry of the high cost of living ringing 
 throughout the land— and with as much gusto in Washington, if not 
 more than in any other city in the Union — the public will be unwill- 
 ing to shoulder this loss. . 
 
 The people who will, in all probability, be most affected by this 
 legislation, if it is made too drastic, will be the women it is intended 
 to help for such a lessening of the extent of their present services 
 
56 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 will undoubtedly, of a necessity, be met by a lessening of the daily 
 wage. 
 
 As to the effect of the present working hours on the morals of 
 women, this seems to me to be a mere sentimental argument. Eight 
 here I wish to insist that the present standard of morals among de- 
 partment-store employees is as high, or higher, than that of the 
 Government departments with their 8-hour regulations. It has been 
 our experience, and I think the experience of other Washington 
 merchants, that in cases where an early leave of absence is granted, 
 the result the next day is more apt to be a sleepy-eyed, yawning sales- 
 woman than on days when the regular hours are maintained. 
 
 I think your committee will find that it is in private offices and 
 business offices of general character where the working- hours of 
 women employees are most excessive, and while it is a habit to make 
 such regulations as these to apply more particularly to establish- 
 ments like department stores, where the effect is most spectacular, I 
 trust that whatever this committee sees fit to do will cover in every 
 way every business institution of any kind whatsoever in the District. 
 
 This bill is prepared by people who are entirely strangers to the 
 conditions that exist in Washington. You well know that Wash- 
 ington is not a manufacturing city. We are not the busy beehives 
 you find in other cities. Washington is a residential city, and has 
 been so for years, and will be for years to come. In the departments 
 here are employed in the neighborhood of 40,000 or 45,000 people. 
 So you can see how largely Washington is dependent upon the de- 
 partment employees for its livelihood and for the maintenance of 
 its establishments. 
 
 Another thing to take into consideration is the character of our 
 population. We have about 350,000 people, 100,000 of whom are 
 negroes. As is a well-known fact, their work is not of the highest 
 character, and must necessarily be of long hours. There must be 
 some provision for them. These people must live, must shop, and 
 be maintained. This is the condition that confronts us. The same 
 conditions do not exist in other cities where they have manufactur- 
 ing industries. You are trying to thrust a law upon Washington 
 drawn by our people who are strangers here — an 8-hour law that 
 does not exist in any State east of Colorado. We have it in Colo- 
 rado and in California, and the greatest industry in California, 
 which is the fruit-preserving industry, is exempt under this law. 
 Why make an exception? It depends entirely whose ox is being 
 gored. T will say right here that you will hurt the business indus- 
 tries of Washington, and not only that, you will hurt the very people 
 it is intended to help, by passing this "bill, because every merchant 
 and business man and every professional man and lawyer who em- 
 ploys women will have to displace them by employing men where it 
 can be done. 
 
 There is no limitation on any man's endeavors., You are going 
 further than the union labor Avould go in this matter. The union 
 labor provides for an 8-hour law, but they will allow the extra 
 time. You are not even giving us half time. You would place us 
 to a great disadvantage. You ought to give us an hour after the de- 
 partment stores close. It takes that long for the clerks to wash and 
 get out. Under this bill if a woman is found in our place one min- 
 ute after her time is up we are liable to arrest by a $1,200 inspector. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR. FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 57 
 
 The bill is not fair, and it was so interpreted in the other part of 
 this building. I am speaking of the department stores, and when I 
 speak of them, I speak of the other stores, and I also speak of the 
 small stores. The conditions surrounding the employment of people 
 in the department stores of Washington are not similar to those 
 found in other cities— in the general manufacturing cities. I am 
 not saying this in a disparaging sort of way. But the conditions 
 that exist are as follows: Washington is a home city. Most of the 
 people employed here have comfortable homes. They do not come 
 from the country to this city seeking boarding houses, and are not 
 compelled to maintain themselves. The employees here are in com- 
 fortable circumstances and have comfortable "homes. That condi- 
 tion does not exist anywhere else in the country in a city of this size. 
 That is a condition to be dwelt upon considerably. 
 
 The Chairman. Just at that point : Have you any statistics avail- 
 able, comparative statistics, showing the proportion of employees 
 of merchantile establishments living at home with their parents as 
 compared with that of other cities ? 
 
 Mr. King. I am 42 years old, sir. I was born and raised in Wash- 
 ington, and have been in business practically since my thirteenth 
 year. My experience as a business man and having hired employees 
 by the thousands in that time, leads me to that conclusion, and also 
 from the different talks I have had with other merchants in regard 
 to this system in this city. It is an absolute fact. That condition 
 exists and can not be controverted. 
 
 The Chairman. It would be rather interesting to the committee 
 if you could furnish us with any definite data. That is an inter- 
 esting phase of the question. 
 
 Mr. King. I think if this committee wants it they can get it. It 
 would entail quite a lot of work, but you can have that. That is the 
 condition in this city. 
 
 Miss Goldberg. We have here this morning the Government ex- 
 pert who has been making a study of the women employees here in 
 Washington, and might it not, perhaps, be in place to ask whether 
 she has any figures of the home conditions of women employees here ? 
 I think possibly she may have covered that phase of the subject. 
 
 The Chairman. I thank you for your suggestion. Later on I 
 would suggest that we hear from the Government expert upon this 
 particular phase of the subject, as suggested by Miss Goldberg. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You stated you would be liable to arrest if you 
 violated this law by a $1,200 inspector. 
 
 Mr. King. I withdraw the $1,200 part. What I meant was this: 
 That anyone, a $1,200 man or $5,000 man or $10,000 man, could 
 arrest us. I take a man as I find him, irrespective of his earning 
 powers. Does that suit better? 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. It is not a question of what suits me. You are 
 making the statement. 
 
 Mr. King. I did not make it in any way against the man. A 
 man's business could be disturbed by an inspector coming there any 
 time. If one of my ladies was waiting on you, and the closing time 
 comes, and she is in the midst of her selling, she would have to tell 
 you to get out, under this law. There is no remedy for it. I think 
 that is the condition, because this is an exact copy of the Peters bill, 
 or La Follette bill. 
 
58 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. It is the Peters bill. 
 
 Mr. King. The two bills are identical. Now, gentlemen, you are 
 endeavoring to put on Washington an 8-hour law that does not exist 
 in any city in the East. Why should we open our doors to more 
 competition? Baltimore has a 10-hour law, and it would be the 
 easiest thing in the world to drive our people over to Baltimore 
 
 The Chairman. Do I understand you to say that in Baltimore, 
 or in Maryland, that by law they have limited the number of hours 
 in these establishments to 10? 
 
 Mr. King. I have been so told. 
 
 The Chairman. Would not the same criticism apply at the end 
 of 10 hours relative to a clerk being in the midst of a sale, that you 
 suggest might apply at the end of 8 hours I 
 
 Mr. King. The condition would not exist, because we would not 
 be liable to arrest. At the end of 10 hours we begin ringing our bell 
 10 minutes beforehand as a notification that we are closing. We do 
 that now to give the girls time to go to the cloakroom and get their 
 wraps and things and get out. 
 
 The Chairman. Why would that not apply under the 8-hour rule 
 just the same as under the 10? 
 
 Mr. Kino. Because the eight-hour rule is too short for us to do 
 our business. We can not do it in eight hours. It altogether depends 
 on the location. There are some stores that may be able to do that in 
 six hours. We are so situated we are open on Saturday nights 
 between li and !.*, and a great portion of our business comes in between. 
 6 and 9. That night is as busy to us as a busy day during the week. 
 We trade with the popular class of people. But you take an exclusive 
 establishment. They may open at 10 and close at 2. But that is the 
 condition. But you can not make it work both ways, and you can not 
 make people pay higher prices for goods. The women would suffer 
 under this bill — the very people you intend to help. It is not a 
 question, Mr. Chairman, of eight consecutive hours, as you may 
 think it is. It was not intended for eight hours continuous work. 
 We can put a girl on from 9 to 12 and from 6 to 12, until midnight 
 of every night in the year. That is what we do not want to do. We 
 are willing to help our labor in every way we can, but where is the 
 advantage to come to the girl if we have two shifts? There is noth- 
 ing to prevent us from keeping open until 12 o'clock at night. That 
 would be defeating the very object we are striving for — to give the 
 girls their evenings and afternoons — and I want to tell you that we 
 in our store, when we have our girls on during the summer season 
 we allow them half a day off one day in the week, and we close at 5 
 o'clock in the afternoons of the dull season, and we open at 8 or 
 8:30 — I don't just remember — and there are other days we work from 
 8.30 to 6, and in the busy season during the winter from 8 to 6, and 
 when they work on Saturday night they have a lunch hour and a 
 supper hour also, and they have their millinery rooms and cloak 
 rooms, and whenever they work overtime they are not only paid 
 extra, but they are allowed three hours' work, and it is practically 
 only from 7 to 9 and 6 to 7, and we furnish them with their supper. 
 You see the conditions are not warranted by this bill. The people 
 of Washington <io not want it. I know this Consumers' League has 
 made efforts to get the merchants to come here for this bill, but they 
 
HOUKS OP LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 59 
 
 did not come near. You are harming the very people you intend to 
 protect. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Do you mean to speak personally to us in this matter ? 
 What do you mean by saying " you " ? 
 
 Mr. King. That you gentlemen of the committee have this matter 
 in hand. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. You do not mean to say we have made up our minds 
 about it? 
 
 Mr. King. Absolutely no. 
 
 Mr. Lewis. Try and select your language a little more skillfully. 
 
 Mr. King. If you recommend this bill. Is that better ? 
 
 Mr. Howard. That is better. 
 
 Mr. King. I hope you gentlemen will not be technical. I do not 
 mean to object to anything here at all. I am merely defending my 
 rights, the same as you would if you were placed in a similar position. 
 I have my back against the wall. I have a family to support, myself, 
 and by giving employment to a lot of other people I support a lot 
 of people, and I think I am somewhat of a benefactor. I have a 
 right to say what I think is proper in my Washington, just as the 
 people in Colorado or California have. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do you mean to say that because you give some- 
 body employment you support their families ? 
 
 Mr. King. It is helping them. Yes; I think that is the law of 
 nature. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. The people that do the work for you are giving 
 something for value received. 
 
 Mr. King. We pay people according to the value of the services 
 they render, and we are more than willing to pay them higher wages 
 than they are entitled to. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You pay them for what they do, and you are not 
 a benefactor in that sense. 
 
 Mr. King. We are not in the Carnegie class yet. . . 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What wages do you pay? 
 
 Mr. King. We pay our bundle wrappers from $3 to $4 — little 
 girls. Some are a little over 16. Other girls get from $4 to $5, and 
 from there up to $17 and $18 and $20 a week. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Can you tell us what per cent of these girls are 
 getting $4 or $5 a week ? 
 
 Mr. King. I can not tell you. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How many do you employ ? 
 
 Mr. King. We employ during the seasons 150 to as many as 300. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I do not agree with you that because you give 
 some one employment you are a benefactor. 
 
 Mr. King. I am not here to discuss the labor question ; but I am 
 as good a friend of labor as anyone. We have everything done by 
 union labor, no matter what it costs us. In Baltimore they have 10 
 hours a day; in New York, I think, they have 54 to 60 hours a week; 
 in Massachusetts, I think, they have more than 54 hours, and I am 
 opposed to this bill because of the fact that the merchants of Wash- 
 ington get a great deal of their trade from the department em- 
 ployees. The departments close at 4.30, and surely to help us you are 
 not going to change the working hours of the departments. 
 
 The Chairman. I supposed, from the statement you made a few 
 minutes ago in regard to the people of Colorado and California 
 
60 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 having no interest in Washington, would exclude you from having 
 any desire for the business that is created as a result of the people or 
 California and Colorado and Massachusetts, and so on, having their 
 residence here; or, in other words, these departments are created, 
 not by Washington alone, but by the entire Government, including 
 California and Colorado. Apparently, from your statement now, 
 you are somewhat interested in what they are doing? 
 
 Mr. King. That is a very narrow line to draw; but at the same 
 time these people come here and live here, and they buy something 
 to eat. What I said about these people coming from California and 
 Colorado was that they come here without being familiar with the 
 conditions that exist in Washington. We have no sweatshops here, 
 and no manufacturing industries. This is a clean city, a good city 
 for anyone to work in. Why do they not try this law out in Balti- 
 more, Pennsylvania, or New York ? I heard one man say before the 
 Senate committee that they want this as ■ a model law to hold up 
 before the country, so that they can influence legislation in other 
 States, and say, Here we have a model 8-hour law in Washington, and 
 the other States must follow and do as Washington has done. That 
 was the argument. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. You were referring to those States because they have 
 an 8-hour law? 
 
 Mr. King. Yes, sir: without intending to be disrespectful to any- 
 one. What I want to impress on you is this: That this law would 
 hurt the people it is intended to help. If this 8-hour law goes into 
 effect and the men are allowed to work, we certainly will displace 
 any woman we can, either by a boy or man, at the same or more sal- 
 ary than the girl -now gets. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. C. F. SOWERS, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I 
 simply wish to briefly voice my protest against the passage of this 
 8-hour bill, as proposed, namely, upon the ground that it would work 
 a hardship, first, on the employers of Washington; second, upon the 
 employees; and last — and by no means least — upon the public of 
 Washington. 
 
 Speaking from the standpoint of a laundryman, I would say that 
 in the event of the passage of this bill the very nature of our busi- 
 ness would demand that we be excepted. In our business we have no 
 uniform amount of work to get out each day. Our conditions vary. 
 In the mercantile business they can have their uniform closing 
 hours, and the goods they do not sell to-day they can sell to-morrow. 
 But not so in our business. To-day's work must be done to-day ; and, 
 as we have no way of regulating or dictating to the customers when 
 and how they should send in their work, in order to meet competition 
 and satisfy the public, we must conform to their habits. There are 
 days when we work only 6 or 7 hours a day. On other days the 
 exigencies of our business require 8, 10, and 12 hours, and, in some 
 cases, possibly 14. There may be some breakdown or some unusual 
 occasion in Washington. But I can safely say that we do not aver- 
 age the year around 8 hours a day. Washington is an exceptional 
 city by reason of the seasons. We frequently close down our estab- 
 
HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 61 
 
 lishment at 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and at noontime on Sat- 
 urdays many times, but our employees receive the same wages. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What are the wages of your employees? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Before answering that question I would like to make 
 this request: I am going to place upon the stand, if you so desire, 
 a sample of our employees — two ladies. You can understand that 
 the question of wages paid to these ladies is very embarrassing if 
 they are made a matter of public record, and I am going to make 
 this request: As this bill does not refer to wages, but simply to the 
 matter of hours and time, could not that feature of wages to em- 
 ployees be eliminated? I will say, so far as I am concerned, I will 
 place a copy of our pay roll before you for your inspection. 
 
 The Chairman. So far as the chair is concerned, he looks upon the 
 matter as being correlated with the question of hours of labor, and 
 those who have opposed the passage of the measure, as well as those 
 who have favored it, have taken the ground that they are related, 
 and in opposition to the bill they have said that the reductiton in the 
 hours of labor set forth in the bill means a reduction in the daily 
 compensation they will receive, so that the two questions seem to be 
 so related to each other that you can scarcely get away from the two. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Perhaps so, but the bill itself does not speak of wages, 
 and I think on that ground the question is irrelevant. Would it not, 
 then, be sufficient to give the average wage instead of making it per- 
 sonal ? 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. So far as I am concerned, I do not insist on the 
 question being asked. 
 
 Mr." Sowers. It is a delicate question ; it gets in the newspapers. 
 
 The Chairman. Then your question is withdrawn for the time 
 being ? 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Yes. I did not think there would be any objec- 
 tion, or I would not have asked it. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Now, I was first stating that the restriction would 
 mean a great loss of business to us and a great deal of annoyance to 
 our patrons, because we would not be able to get out the work as is 
 demanded by our customers. We get work from hotels and cafes 
 after breakfast, and we are required to get it back by the lunch hour, 
 and again we gather it up after the lunch hour and must get it back 
 by the dinner hour, and if, by reason of extra increase m the work or 
 some delay in the machinery or by a decrease of the force, we can not 
 get that out for an hour longer, and we would have to.close our shops 
 down at a certain time, as set forth in this bill, we would have to 
 withhold the work from these hotels and cafes, and you will see what 
 a position that would put us in and the disadvantage that would 
 result to the public. 
 
 The Chairman. I would like to call the attention of the committee 
 to the fact that the time has arrived when we must adjourn under 
 the rules, and I would like to ask Mr. Andrews whether he expects 
 to produce any additional witnesses ? 
 
 Mr. Andrews. We have a number of both merchants and employees 
 who have not yet been heard. , . . ,, j. , , 
 
 The Chairman. Then, if there is no objection on the part ot the 
 committee and it is satisfactory to those who desire to be heard, the 
 committee will adjourn until 10 o'clock to-morrow morning. 
 
62 hours of labor for women in the district of columbia. 
 
 Committee on Labor, 
 House or Representatives, 
 
 Friday, February 7, 1913. 
 The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. William B. Wilson 
 (chairman) presiding. 
 The Chairman. Mr. Andrews, you may proceed. 
 Mr. Chairman, I would like to have Mr. Sowers finish his remarks. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. C. F. SOWERS— Continued. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Mr. Chairman, I said yesterday that this bill affected 
 three classes, namely, the employer, the employee, and the general 
 public. As affecting the employers, the nature of our business makes 
 it a physical impossibility — the laundry business I refer to — for us 
 to meet the demands of the public under the restrictions set out in 
 this bill. As an instance of the exigencies, I will cite the events tak- 
 ing place next month, the 4th of March, when thousands of visitors 
 invade our city, a time when every housekeeper in Washington 
 changes her linen, and some who do not particularly patronize these 
 laundries will want a lot of work done, and the volume of local 
 business is necessarily doubled, in addition to the transient business 
 brought here by visitors. I ask you, gentlemen, if there is any sug- 
 gestions by which, even by additional expense, shifts, or otherwise, 
 the laundries can meet the demands of the public of Washington 
 under such exigencies as that? 
 
 The Chairman. Is your machinery so constructed that it can be 
 operated continuously 24 hours each day ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes. sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you ordinarily operate 24 hours ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. How long do you ordinarily operate? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Ten hours are supposed to be our regular working 
 hours during the busy season, including the lunch hour. I will say 
 here that we find, upon investigation, that we do not average 10 
 hours the year around, taking the dull season and the busy season, 
 and taking into consideration the half-day loss on Mondays — most 
 departments half a day Saturdays — and holidays, for which we pay 
 our help. Under those conditions we are necessarily required to 
 operate our plants longer than if we could operate shorter hours by 
 putting on additional help. We can not secure expert operators at 
 such a time when they are in demand, and the only way we can in- 
 crease our output is by additional hours. If we are compelled, in a 
 great rush like that, when we are piled up with goods from hotels 
 and institutions, to say nothing about private linens, to shut down 
 on the hours, keeping all this work in the laundry, the result is 
 obvious. 
 
 Mr. Howard. In connection with the half day loss on Monday, I 
 want to ask you a question. Have you got your patrons educated 
 to making deliveries to their laundrymen on Friday and Saturday, 
 as they do down in my town— Atlanta— to provide against the loss 
 of a half day on Monday? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. Our experience in educating the public has 
 not been very encouraging so far. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 63 
 
 Mr. Howard. I know the system adopted by the laundries in At- 
 lanta is to make their deliveries on Friday and Saturday. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You refer to individual work ? 
 
 Mr. Howard. What is that? 
 
 Mr. Sow t ers. I say, do you refer to individual work? 
 
 Mr. Howard. I am referring now to a system adopted in a town 
 about half the size of this one ; the laundries in that city have adopted 
 a method of gathering their laundry up on Friday and Saturday, at 
 the same time they are making deliveries, to prepare themselves 
 against the loss of a half a day on Monday. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. As far as practicable — in our business we have a num- 
 ber of branch stores through the city. We make a practice of en- 
 couraging the public, or instructing our clerks to instruct them to 
 that end, to bring their work in oh Friday, to give us a start, and we 
 instruct our drivers to get all they can on Friday and Saturday to 
 begin work on Monday, but that does not apply to hotels and cafes 
 and other institutions, who give us only a few hours to do the work 
 and return it. So I say I doubt if there is any such bill that could 
 overcome those conditions except by additional hours and thereby 
 increasing the expense and hardship upon the employers. 
 
 I say the employees are most of all affected by this bill, first, that 
 we would displace the females with men as far as practicable, as far 
 as possible, we might saj r , and in cases where we can meet the condi- 
 tions by employing a double shift it would necessarily double our ex- 
 penses; or if we double the force we have got to reduce the salary 
 of those people we employ commensurate to the conditions, or raise 
 the prices, or both — a little of both, I imagine, would be the result; 
 so it would necessarily throw a great many out of employment, and 
 those who are employed would not be as well off. As it is now, I said 
 to the Senate committee yesterday, it is a give-and-take proposition. 
 When it is slack we let them go home and pay for the time just the 
 same, and when we are busy we require or expect them to stay as 
 long as necessary; but there have been no unreasonable hours prac- 
 ticed in Washington, so far as I am concerned, and there has been no 
 demand for shorter hours. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What do you consider reasonable hours ? You 
 say there have been no unreasonable hours. What do you consider 
 reasonable hours for women to work? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I consider 8 or 9 hours very reasonable, and I con- 
 sider 10 or 12 hours, in extreme cases, reasonable. I have worked 
 18 to 20 hours many a time myself. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan, f am speaking of ladies just now. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I found no general complaint among the females 
 where they are required to work 10 and 12 hours, especially when 
 they were paid for overtime. 
 
 The Chairman. Would not that lack of complaint be, in a measure, 
 accounted for by virtue of the fact that an employee hesitates about 
 complaining lest his job be endangered ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I think not, sir, for the reason that when we have 
 
 overtime work we leave it to the discretion, or as a matter of choice, 
 
 - with the employees. As a rule, we do not want all of them ; we will 
 
 say, " Girls, who wants to make overtime to-night, 1 ' and as a rule, they 
 
 are voluntary. 
 
64 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is not that desire for overtime work largely du 
 to being underpaid for their service which they are giving— that ^ 
 they are not receiving sufficient pay to make a comfortable living . 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Not necessarily. I think it is a law of nature to ge 
 all we can, especially in this community where it is a great struggl 
 to live on account of the high prices oi everything. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You would not sacrifice their physical condition 
 
 Mr. Sowers. There has been no indication that any physical con 
 ditions have been jeopardized. I ask you who has complained of th 
 conditions in Washington in the laundries? You had here a witnes 
 for the advocates of this bill, an ex-employee of the laundries, m ref 
 erence to the complaints about the unfavorable conditions in laun 
 dries about which so much was said in the hearing before the Hous 
 committee, before we were advised of it. I want to cite you to th 
 testimony of that witness before the Senate committee. Just a fei 
 questions. In answer to a question of Senator Dillingham, on pag 
 51 of the record of the hearing before the Senate committee— th 
 question was: 
 
 Do you know anything personally of the conditions in the other laundrie 
 during the last 2 years? 
 
 Mrs. Cotjlon. No, sir ; I do not. 
 
 Senator Jones. What are the hours in this laundry that you have been worl 
 ing in during the last 2 years? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. From half past 7 to 6 o'clock. 
 
 In case ive had a breakdown or rush work we would have to work extn 
 but we got our supper for it. 
 
 Senator Jokes. You got your supper for the extra work? 
 
 Mrs. Coiion. Yes, sir; the man furnished us our supper when we had 1 
 work overtime. 
 
 Senator Jonis. The rr-gular hours were from 7.30 o'clock until 6 o'clock i 
 night. 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. From 7.30 until 6 o'clock; yes, sir. 
 
 Senator .Tonics. Did you frequently have to work until 8 o'clock, '.) o'cloci 
 or 10 o'clock? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. No; we did not. Just once in a great while. 
 
 Senator Jones. If you did work until 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, or 11 o'clock, yo 
 Just got your supper? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes; we got a very good supper. 
 
 The Chairman. Airs. Coulon, when you were a regular employee in 
 laundry — a good many years ago, it seems — what was your observation as i 
 the health of the girls, and the effect of the employment on the health of tl 
 girls? 
 
 Miss Coulon. I really do not think it hurt any of the girls, because they a 
 looked healthy. 
 
 The Chairman. Might I ask if you saw Mrs. Coulon when she ws 
 on the stand? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I was not present, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you know Mrs. Coulon? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes. sir ; she is an ex-employee of my establishment. 
 
 The Chairman. Would you consider her a healthy looking woman 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Well, sir, maybe not healthy looking, she is thin, bi 
 she apparently enjoys good health. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is it not a fact that she had to quit that woi 
 due to the strain on her nerves ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir; she made no such claim when she quit oi 
 service. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. She made a statement to that effect before th 
 committee here — that the strain was too hard — and that she cou 
 not stand it. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 65 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I did not hear any testimony to that effect. I heard 
 of it indirectly. 
 ' Mr. Buchanan. It is a matter of record in our hearings. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I have not had access to those records. I read her tes- 
 timony before the Senate committee. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do you want to cite her as a witness for long 
 hours ? I am of the opinion that she is a poor witness for that posi- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. She is the advocate's witness. I have read her testi- 
 mony before the Senate committee. She admits that the hours are 
 not incalculably long. If you will bear with me a moment 
 
 Mr. Howard. In connection with what you have been reading 
 about what Mrs. Coulon said, the chairman of the Senate committee 
 said : 
 
 It was suggested to me by one lady that you would give us some rather 
 startling information along that line, that it had a very injurious effect. 
 
 Mrs. Coulox. No ; I do not think it has much effect, except the machines. 
 The girls that work on the machines, it may effect them, but you know all the 
 girls do not work on machines. i 
 
 In what, way does it affect these girls in working on these machines, 
 if you know? How many machines have you got and how many 
 girls are working on machines? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I will introduce, if you please, some witnesses who do 
 work on machines, to answer that question. 
 
 On page 52 the chairman said : 
 
 What about the shortest day? 
 
 Mrs. Cotilon. Summer months, the last laundry I worked at, we used to quit 
 at 5 and sometimes at half-past 5. Senator, I will tell you the people think 
 that from half past 7 to 6 o'clock is long. You have to be there at half past 6, 
 but the time you pack and unpack your machine of a night, and then go there 
 in the morning, it is S or 9 o'clock in the morning before you get to work. So 
 I really do not think the laundry girls have a hard time of it. 
 
 Is that consistent testimony from their only witness? 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is that testimony correct? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It is a matter of record. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is that correct? i 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Our contention is that they do not have a hard time, 
 and we propose to show it. 
 
 The Chairman. What is your evidence in the matter, that you tes- 
 tified that this statement is correct as to the actual facts ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In some points ; yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I ask you if that statement is correct? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I read you her opinion as expressed there. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You also read as to the time she went to work. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. That is rather meager ; I would not say it is correct in 
 detail. 
 
 Mr. Howard. What does the handling of a machine consist of; 
 what physical exercise % 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I could not tell you about that. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you have a method of covering up your ma- 
 chines when the girls leave at night ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We place a loose covering over them, just as the mer- 
 chant does over his counter of goods, which requires just a moment 
 of time to remove. 
 78634—13 5 
 
66 HOURS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 
 
 Mr. Howard. What is " packing " a machine and " unpacking " 
 machine? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. That i.s putting felts on rolls, which we do usually o 
 Monday morning. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Does that require any physical exercise, any grea 
 physical exertion? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Are those rolls taken out ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir ; this piece is put on the revolving rolls. 
 
 Mr. Howard. The word should be " padding " instead of " paci 
 
 ing"? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir ; perhaps that is right. 
 
 The Chairman. Relative to the testimony of Mrs. Coulon, I wouL 
 like to read for your information just what she said in that connectio: 
 before this committee [reading] : 
 
 The Chairman. Have you any people whom you have to support out of ti 
 wages you earn? 
 
 Mr. Coulon. I have a little boy ; I am a widow with a little boy. 
 
 The Chairman. Your little boy; any parents? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I help to take care of my mother. 
 
 The Chairman. You help to take care of your mother? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. The only reason why I left the laundry was becaus 
 my nerves got all unstrung from the machines and the wear of the work; th 
 work was too much for one woman to do. 
 
 The Chairman. You felt the straiu was entirely too much on your nerves? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir ; I felt that the strain was entirely too much on n>; 
 nerves. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I thank you. sir. I wanted to remind you gentlemei 
 that that was the only complaining witness, and that her testimon; 
 was practically refuted. I mean to say her testimony was not con 
 sistent ; that she contradicts herself in some cases. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you think there is anything in this statement o] 
 page 52 of the Senate committee hearing : 
 
 Senator Ken yon. Are you in favor of the proposed law? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Yes, sir. I am in favor of the law. 
 
 Senator Kenyon. Why? 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. Because I think just as much work can be done in 8 hours a 
 can be done in 9 or 10 hours, for the girls know they have got to do that wort 
 and they will go to work and do it, and not fool around like some of them do. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I have — of course, there are some girls who foo 
 around, if they are given that privilege, and I guess Mrs. Couloi 
 was speaking of that class when she said that. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Do you have this rule in your establishment: "Yoi 
 have to be there at half -past 6 ? " 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Smith. That is a part of her testimony : 
 
 You have to be there at half-past 6, but the time you pack and unpack thei 
 machines of a night, and then go there in the morning, it is 8 or 9 o'clock in th' 
 morning before you get to work. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We do not start our plant until half -past 7. 
 I will read one more question from the Senate hearing : 
 
 Mr. Lowe. Ask her about the hours on Mondays and Saturdays. 
 The Chairman. If any person has a question to ask, let it be asked throug) 
 the chairman, so as to prevent confusion. 
 What about the time on Mondays and Saturdays? 
 
HOUBS OF LABOE FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTBIOT OF COLUMBIA. 67 
 
 A i rS l C ° UL0N - 0n Mondays we went to work at 9 o'clock on the markers, and 
 on Saturdays we were through at 3 o'clock. If I am able I will answer any 
 questions. -- * 
 
 Mr. Lowe. Ask her if she received full time during the summer and those 
 short days? . 
 
 Mrs. Coulon. I certainly did get full time for the summer as well as the 
 winter. 
 
 So there, we have this witness admitting that she got her supper 
 when she worked overtime, and got full time during the dull season, 
 and that she did not think the girls had a hard time of it, and that 
 the girls were all healthy. There is the witness, an ex-employee, and 
 I venture to say the laundrymen could bring hundreds of employees 
 to refute the testimony that the girls are only treated fairly well, and 
 that the hours are unreasonably long, and on the average they do not 
 work over eight hours, except that we have the privilege of distribut- 
 ing these hours according to the conditions of our business, which, if 
 we are restricted to eight or nineiiours in any one day, we could not 
 meet the demands of the public. 
 
 The Chairman. If you work your plant overtime, do you pay your 
 force overtime ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. If we work materially overtime, we do. In the case 
 of holidays, we work the day previous a few hours later and get 
 the work up, and we pay them for the entire holiday, so that the 
 holiday they are paid for is only partly made up in actual work. 
 
 The Chairman. What is your custom in regard to allowing for 
 overtime ? Do you allow for overtime, say, for a quarter of an hour 
 or a half an hour or an hour, or what is your rule ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Our custom is not to allow for overtime for a half 
 hour or an hour because of the fact that so many days we are an 
 hour short, or possibly two hours short, on the other side. As I said, 
 it is a give-and-take proposition — that is, to those who are fair- 
 minded — and we give them the benefit of the short days and let 
 them go. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do you know of any employer who admits that 
 he is not fair-minded ? 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir ; I do not. 
 
 Mr. Stern. Is it not a fact that during the summer time the heat 
 is so terrific in your laundries that it is almost unbearable at times; 
 is that not a fact ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It is undoubtedly so ; any hot machine is hotter when 
 the natural heat is greater, but no more so than in the Bureau of 
 Engraving and Printing, or where there are machines used. 
 
 Mr. Stern. Yes; but in the bureau, they do not work but 8 hours 
 there, and sometimes less. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We state that we do not work more than 8 hours on 
 an average; some days only 5 or 6. The bureau keeps their em- 
 ployees there 8 hours every day. 
 
 The Chairman. About what is the temperature of your work- 
 room, say, in January and in June time ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It varies. Our laundry establishments are all, to my 
 knowledge, well ventilated, and even during the hot summer ; while, 
 of course, some of the machines themselves are warm, and if you 
 keep in contact with the machines you feel the heat, but there is 
 ventilation, and there is a draft, and often the doors and windows 
 are open, and it is not suffocating or a close atmosphere. 
 
68 HOURS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You state that your employees do not averag 
 over 8 hours. What time are they required to be at the place c 
 work to work 8 hours? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Half past 7 in the morning, except Mondays an 
 other days, as we may foresee things do not require. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Half past 7 until what time in the evening? 
 
 Mr. Sowees. Until 6 o'closk, if they do not get through sooner, c 
 until they get through. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. That is about every day they are there ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In the busy season, Saturdays excepted. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You do not average 8 hours' work, when they ai 
 required to be at their place of work 10 or 12 hours. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Not at all ; when they are through they go home, i 
 it is 3 o'clock in the afternoon. My statement was that we do nc 
 keep them on our premises more than 8 hours on an average, all th 
 year around. We do not care wh»t time they go home, if they ar 
 through with their work. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you keep a thermometer in your establismen 
 in any of the rooms, so that you get any idea of what the tempera 
 ture is in which the girls have to work? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir; we can generally judge that by our ow: 
 feelings. 
 
 The Chairman. So that you have no means of getting an accurat 
 record of what the temperature is? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Are there any weeks in the year in which you averag 
 more than 8 hours a day? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir: many of them. 
 
 Mr. Smith. How many weeks? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir. In inauguration week. 
 
 Mr. Smith. That is an exceptional week. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We average more than 8 hours a week during th 
 busy season, but it is offset • 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What do you call the busy season ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. From January, I might say, until the 1st of June. 
 
 The Chairman. How many hours do you average during the bus 
 season; how many hours a week? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We average possibly 9 hours ; I have not figured tha 
 out in that particular period. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. It is a matter of mathematics, then ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You do not know of vour own personal know! 
 edge? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I do. I know in a general way. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Mr. Sowers, is it not a fact that during the month 
 of June, July, August, and September there are more white good 
 worn by men and women that are sent to the laundry than in an 
 other season of the year? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir ; but they are not sent to* Washington laur 
 dries; they are sent to Atlantic City laundries and laundries i 
 Other places. You gentlemen do not send us any of it during Jul 
 and August. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I did last year; I expect I will this vear Th 
 question I was trying to get at was simply for information'. I wante 
 
HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 69 
 
 to know why during the months of June, July, August, and Sep- 
 tember there should be such a slump in the laundry business here. It 
 is our busy season in Georgia. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Washington is an exception; it is merely a winter 
 resort; people are not here to send their goods to us. It has not been 
 shown that there is any demand on the part of the employees them- 
 selves for any changed conditions. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You say there is not on the part of the employees 
 of Washington ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. It is possible there has been from the working 
 people throughout the United States. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I expect so, because in other places their work is 
 harder. There is no drudgery existing here; no manufacturing 
 district where they work long hours. 
 
 Mr. Buchaxax. I suppose you understand that the working peo- 
 ple of this country, through organized labor, made great sacrifices 
 to secure an 8-hour day? You are aware of that fact? They have 
 spent large sums of money and lost a great deal of time throughout 
 the country, and even some of them here in Washington seem to de- 
 sire an 8-hour day, because they have made an effort to secure it 
 through us. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. A great many people desire not to work at all. 
 
 Mr. Buchaxax. That probably is the reason why a great many are 
 employers. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. My experience has been that the employers have a 
 hard time with the employees. 
 
 Mr. Buchaxax. Let them tell it, they usually do, 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In Massachusetts they have a 54-hour week, just 
 what we are asking for. We would be satisfied with a 54-hour 
 week. They say that there is no demand for the 8-hour day here ; no 
 need for it because the conditions here do not warrant it. 
 
 Mr. Buchaxax. " They say " ; who do you mean when you say 
 " They say " ? Where does the report come from ; what source have 
 you got it from? Are your employees organized so that they may 
 speak for themselves as to the wrongs done them by their em- 
 ployers ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I have interviewed a great many employees. 
 
 Mr. Buchaxax. You have, yourself ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir. I have got expressions, directly and in- 
 directly, and without exception they are satisfied and desire no 
 change in conditions, and it would work a hardship upon them. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Those who have worked know what this kind of 
 a statement means to the employer. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We have had those who have worked to speak for 
 themselves. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. At the suggestion of the employer, probably. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Not in my case, sir. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Those two ladies we brought here yesterday did not 
 have any strings tied to them. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Mr. Sowers, you say that the commercial interests 
 of Washington would be satisfied with 54 hours per week. Now, 
 just for my own information and the information of the com- 
 mittee ■ 
 
70 HOURS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 
 Mr. Sowees. Excuse me. I am not speaking for the commerci 
 interests at large. I am speaking for the laundry men ; they woul 
 be satisfied. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Fifty-four hours per week? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Now, can you give an estimate, in your own estal 
 lishment, of the extra expense that would be incurred by your laui 
 dry in additional help to bring the hours down to 48 hours per week 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I would not like to do that offhand. 
 
 Mr. Howard. That is a mere arithmetical proposition, is it not? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. You know how many you have employed in yor 
 laundry ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No. It depends on conditions — how much overtiir 
 we have got to make and what department they are in, and how Ion 
 the people have got to make that overtime. We know we can nc 
 pick up an extra shift of girls. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I see. I did not mean change in the sense of ten 
 porary or extra employment. I meant regular employment. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. If we had regular hours and a uniform amount c 
 business we could meet those conditions much more convenientlj 
 but as I have stated before, our work is not uniform. There ai 
 extra orders to get out which we must complete, and we can not sto 
 until that work is completed. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. There is a national association of laundrymen, : 
 there not ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. There has been, and is to-day, a social 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. A national ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Oh, yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I think I had the pleasure of seeing some of thei 
 in my city. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I thought you referred to the local situation. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Will you point out to us what conditions exist i 
 the laundries of Washington as to this emergency work that we spot 
 of that are different from tho^e of any other city of the United State 
 that you might mention? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I might observe my judgment is that emergence 
 arise more or less in any city, but more so in Washington because c 
 its fluctuating population and its winter population being so muc 
 greater and the occasions and events that occur here. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Yon have more employees in the winter tha 
 you do in the summer ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir; necessarily, we increase our employees a< 
 cording to our volume of work. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You cut your pay roll to meet the volume of wor 
 that you get, do you not ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. As far as practicable; but if we had to meet tr. 
 requirements of this bill and put on a double shift, that would mea 
 double expense, and the answer to that as it was made in the Senal 
 committee was to increase the prices, and the whole tendency of tr. 
 argument in response to our conditions was that the public pay tr 
 bill. Gentlemen, we have not found that we can tell the public 'whi 
 they must do; we can not dictate to the public as to their sendin 
 their work to us. We must realize that the public of Washino-toi 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 71 
 
 the general public, the citizens of Washington who reside here, have 
 their money invested here and raise their families here- should have 
 something to say, and it seems to me that this body of lawmakers 
 who reside with us, representing this great, glorious country of ours, 
 gentlemen who come here to make laws, to place restrictions upon us, 
 and holding us to burdens that they are not willing to bear should 
 consider what these people want. I believe you want to consider 
 the interests of the people of Washington, the citizens here. Of 
 course Members of Congress represent districts away from here, and 
 a good many of them have no interests in common with us in Wash- 
 ington in these matters, unfortunately. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Eight there, do you not think that a rather unfair 
 statement to make to this committee that Congress has not 'any 
 interests in common with you gentlemen here in the affairs of Wash- 
 ington, and that we are prejudging this case ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Not prejudging it. I did not state that you had no 
 interests with us, but that your entire interest is not equal to ours. 
 Your knowledge of conditions is not equal to ours, but I believe you 
 will do us justice and give us a chance to be heard, and to acquaint 
 yourselves with conditions before placing any burdens upon us. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Have you any complaint to make about a fair and 
 a full hearing that you are having now before this committee? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Not at all. There is no need of this legislation, when 
 the citizens of Washington do not cry out for it, when there is no 
 demand for it from Washington here. And when the people here 
 do not ask it, for why should it be imposed upon us by people from 
 other States ? 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to ask you another question: Do you 
 think that there would ever be a cry for a change in any conditions 
 where a certain class of citizens were profiting or making a profit 
 from another class of citizens in the same community ? Where would 
 you think the wail would come from; from the class making the 
 profit? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. From the oppressed, sir, if they are oppressed. It 
 has not been shown that there is any oppression here. 
 
 The Chairman. Would not your position be the old position that 
 has long ago been declared to be untenable that we are not our 
 brothers' keepers? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We are, and the law expressly provides — that is 
 what we are arguing on now. that we interchange one with another 
 here ; an issue was taken with Mr. King that he was not a benefactor ; 
 of course not in the Carnegie sense, but I believe he is, and that 
 every merchant who turns his goods over is a benefactor. 
 
 The Chairman. When you gave as one of the reasons why this 
 legislation should not be enacted that it is being pressed, not by 
 people of the District of Columbia, but by people from other parts 
 of the country 
 
 Mr. Sowers (interposing). Exactly so, sir. 
 
 The Chairman (continuing). That would put you in the position 
 of assuming that they are not their brothers' keepers or we are not 
 our brothers' keepers? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. That is a good old adage which says " Charity begins 
 at home." 
 
72 HOURS OF 'LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You raised a question there about a matter whic 
 I probably brought to the attention of the gentleman who was mal 
 ing a statement yesterday before this committee, and 1 do not d< 
 sire to put myself in the attitude of arguing with anyone appearin 
 here and making a statement. I only brought this to the attentio 
 of Mr. King yesterday to find his position in regard to the propc 
 sition that the employer is the benefactor of the man who is wori 
 ing for him. I would like to call your attention to the tact the 
 Abraham Lincoln, when he was President of the United States, sai 
 that the worker was the creator of the wealth, and if he had nc 
 created any wealth there would have been no capital to be employe 
 and therefore labor should come first and be given first considerate 
 
 I would like to know, in the face of all those things that have bee 
 stated by the great men of the country, whether you still maintai 
 that an employer, because he happens to be an employer of som 
 workingman, is therefore the benefactor and is contributing to th 
 life of that man and his family, or whether the employer himself : 
 earning that money and probably much more than he is entitled t< 
 I do not want to unnecessarily interrupt anyone who is making 
 statement, and I am only making this statement to get the attitud 
 of you gentlemen who are employers of the workingmen in the cit 
 of Washington. I would like to know where we are drifting to. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We do not presume to be on any higher plar 
 than the employees. The employees' interest would be in the intei 
 ests, necessarily, of the employer, and their mutual interests redounc 
 to them mutually. If there were not employers there would be n 
 employment. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is it not a fact that there was employment befoi 
 there were any employers? In the early days of this country the 
 found a way to get employment and employ themselves. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir; but the wheels of commerce could not coi 
 tinue to revolve if there were not employers. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Probably watered stock and financial piratt 
 would not continue to control the country as they have in the past. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Do not understand us as opposing the interes 
 of labor. That is the strongest argument that we are makinj 
 that this law is against the interests of the employees, and the 
 themselves do not desire it, and it is to our mutual interest to 1 
 unrestricted as to our conditions in Washington. We are all und< 
 more restrictions in this city than in any other that I have know 
 edge of. If there ever was a place in which it could be said thi 
 there was taxation without representation, that is Washington. "V5 
 have double and triple taxation on the same property here ; we hai 
 impossible laws imposed upon us, and we are made criminals t 
 those laws because it is impossible to obey them. There is not a da 
 that goes by that some of us are not violating the laws and compelh 
 to become criminals. Washington is becoming a veritable Egyp 
 and owing to our peculiar complex political position, we are deni< 
 the right of the ballot and we can not rule ourselves, and we ask fi 
 a hearing that we may consider these important measures that affe 
 us and us only. 
 
 The Chairman. I hope in your comparison of Washington 
 Egypt that you do not mean to suggest that the workers have 
 make brick without straw ? 
 
HOUES OF LABOE FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 73 
 
 Mr. Sowers. "Very nearly so. The business man has to comply 
 with the law, or is supposed to comply with a law which it is impos- 
 sible to comply with, and which, if he does not comply with, he is 
 made a criminal. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Nearly all of these oppressive laws have been sad- 
 dled on you during the last 16 years, have they not ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. All during the Eepublican administration. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you think it is the desire of the best men in 
 this city to have the right of suffrage; do you think that is the 
 universal desire? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. The sentiment I have heard expressed is that way. 
 It is my desire to have some voice in saying what the laws governing 
 the District shall be. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. That is pretty general ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I think so ; yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Just by way of encouragement, I would like to say 
 that we hope you gentlemen in Washington will cheer up ; we will 
 try to give you better conditions. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. If we had a voice to say who should rule we would 
 soon determine whether the general masses of Washington people 
 desire these restrictions. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I am afraid if we do that you would raise the price 
 of our laundry bill in Atlanta, covering the difference in the prices 
 here and there. You charge about 30 per cent more for your work 
 here than we pay there. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Possibly our laundry work is worth 30 per cent more. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I do not think it is. You tore up a brand-new shirt 
 in one washing for me. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You are driving a great deal of our business to 
 Baltimore as it is. I dare say, Mr. Howard, that you gentlemen have 
 as much faith in Atlanta as in Washington. I was in 
 
 Mr. Buchanan (interposing). What sort of business is it that is 
 bejng driven to Baltimore that you speak of? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. There is some laundry work being sent to Baltimore 
 by the small concerns who have not plants of their own. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is that due to restrictive laws — restrictive laws 
 that they do not have in Maryland ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It must be due to the fact that the laundryman in 
 Baltimore can produce work cheaper than we can here. 
 
 Mr. Stern. Labor is cheaper? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I presume so. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is competition keen here in Washington? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Do the laundries of Baltimore have agents in 
 Washington to solicit business and collect work? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. They have had ; I do not know that they have now. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I would like to know. You say this business is 
 being driven to Baltimore. I would like to know what you think 
 is the reason for that, whether you think it is due to restrictive 
 measures here that they do not have in Maryland, and if so, what 
 they are ? • 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I can speak for the tailoring trade ; a great deal of 
 the work goes to Baltimore because it can be made from 25 to 50 
 per cent cheaper. 
 
74 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Due to any restrictive measures? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Because it is cheaper. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Why? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Because the conditions for getting help are much 
 easier than here. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What I wanted to find out was whether it was 
 due to any laws that have been passed in the District and put into 
 effect that do not exist in Maryland. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard, I do not know that it is that. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Sometimes, I understand, some concerns will do 
 work cheaper than some other concerns in the same city. In Chi- 
 cago we would consider Baltimore simply as a suburb of Chicago, 
 if it were situated in respect to Chicago as it is in respect to Wash- 
 ington, and if work was done cheaper in the suburb, we would sim- 
 ply consider it as being done cheaper in one part of thecity than in 
 another part. What I was trying to get at was this, is it due to the 
 laws being passed in the District that do not apply to Maryland, 
 or if it was due to other conditions over which the laws have no -con- 
 trol? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. It is principally on account of the question of help ; 
 the help we get here, so far as the women are concerned, a great 
 many of their parents are connected with the departments, whereas 
 in Baltimore a great many of them are wage earners in factories, and 
 their children are raised differently and more apt to accept work in 
 tailoring establishments. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. That is not due to the laws. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. It is due to the supply and demand for help. 
 
 Mr. Howard. The question I started to propound to you a while 
 ago was this. Why is it that so many people of what we might call 
 a medium class in the possession of wealth go over to Baltimore to 
 trade ; how can they afford to do it ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Perhaps Mr. King or some other merchant, can answer 
 that question better than I can. 
 
 Mr. Howard. With your experience, your personal experience, is 
 it not a fact that it is known from one end of this country to an- 
 other that Washington is the highest priced city in this country; is 
 that not a fact? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir; I think so. 
 
 Mr. Howard. For everything you buy? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes, sir; except the price for laundry work. 
 
 Mr. King. I take exception to that statement; the facts do not 
 warrant it. The competition is very keen in Washington and goods 
 can be purchased as cheap in Washington as in any city in the East, 
 and 50 per cent cheaper than anywhere west of Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Then why is this condition true, and you know this 
 condition is true, that so many people go to Baltimore to trade? 
 
 Mr. King. So many people do not go to Baltimore to trade, and 
 I made that statement before the Senate committee. 
 
 Mr. Howard. What is the source of your information ; why is it 
 better than the information of any other merchant? 
 
 Mr. King. My information comes from actual experience. I do 
 not know where these other people get theirs from. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I suppose any other~merchant in the same line would 
 have the same experience you have. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 75 
 
 Mr. King. The condition that von state possibly could have existed 
 during a period possibly 1-2 or 18 years ago, but'the standard of the 
 stores has increased materially, and thev compare favorably with anv 
 similar institutions in the United States now. 
 
 The Chairman. Are there manv who come from Baltimore to 
 Washington to trade? 
 
 Mr. King. No, sir. But I think there are people— of course, it is 
 not the rule, it is merely the exception, the same as there are some 
 people who go to Baltimore to trade. You know, Mr. Chairman, that 
 there are always some people who want to go out of their home city 
 to shop. Some go to Philadelphia and seme to New York, but that 
 is the exception. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Do your views agree with those of Mr. Sowers, 
 that certain business is being driven to Baltimore? 
 
 Mr. King. No ; nothing is being driven to Baltimore. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan (addressing Mr. Sowers). Is that vour statement? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I do not mean to convey that idea, but that competi- 
 tion is stronger in our line, and some work was going there by reason 
 of competition, conditions being more economical over there; but 
 that if this measure passes it would be driven there. 
 
 The Chairman. It seems to me that we are killing a great deal of 
 time. I suggest the witness who has been recalled to the stand pro- 
 ceed with his statement, with such interrogatories as are made, until 
 he concludes, and then if any other gentleman has any fact he wants 
 to present to the committee we will consider the question of his sub- 
 mitting a statement. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I will conclude very briefly, then, and wish to sub- 
 stantiate what I have said in relation to a desire upon the part of 
 the employees as to whether or not they are satisfied, and will intro- 
 duce two ladies from my own establishment, one representing office 
 work and the other machine operators. I know your time rs limited, 
 and I suppose two are sufficient. 
 
 I might say in reference to this work, a feature of which we em- 
 phasize, we have branch stores all over the city, especially for taking 
 in quick work — taking in the work in the morning to be delivered the 
 same daj r ; and because of the fact that most of these people are in the 
 departments, we must necessarily keep open until 6 o'clock to meet 
 this demand: but the work is light, and the people in these branch 
 stores have an hour's intermission for lunch. There is no complaint 
 on the part of those girls, and I will now introduce Miss Langdon, 
 who has charge of one of my offices. 
 
 Mr. Stern (addressing Mr. Sowers). You made the statement that 
 nobody had complained about your laundries; I say I am here to 
 complain about your laundry. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In what way? 
 
 Mr. Stern. I expect to appear before the committee and make a 
 statement. 
 
 Mr. Soavers. Naturally, the advocates of the bill in a general way 
 say they complain, but they have not given us any evidence as to 
 their information. I want, now, to introduce Miss Langdon. 
 
 The Chairman. Miss Langdon, you may proceed. 
 
76 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MISS IOEETTA LANGDON, OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Miss Langdon. As Mr. Sowers has just told you, the people want 
 quick service, and it requires us to keep open until 6 o clock; that 
 means the office people who get out at 4.30 must have an hour and a 
 half to get their laundry. Our branch office opens at 8 o clock, which 
 is an hour before the regular time of the department clerks going to 
 office, and they leave the laundry, and it comes back the same day, 
 and if we did not keep open until 6 o'clock in the evening, if we 
 closed at 5.30, as we would have to do if this bill was passed, they 
 would not be able to get their laundry, and the quick service would be 
 useless for them, because the laundry does not get to the office until 5 
 o'clock or quarter after 5, and it really gives the people only about 
 three-quarters of an hour to get their laundry in the evening. 
 
 The Chairman. What do you mean by quick laundry service * 
 
 Miss Langdon. The laundry that comes in in the morning to be 
 gotten back the same day. 
 
 The Chairman. People call for it at the office, and you are one of 
 the office force ? , 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. And it is your duty to take charge of the laundry 
 when it is brought in in the morning and deliver it when it is called 
 for at night ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Your duties require you to be there one hour be- 
 fore the laundry begins work in the morning and to be there for an 
 hour after the laundry quits at night ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No; my hours are from 8 o'clock in the morning 
 until 6 o'clock in the evening, with an hour for lunch. 
 
 The Chairman. At what time does the laundry begin work ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. The plant? 
 
 The Chairman. Yes. 
 
 Miss Langdon. Seven thirty. 
 
 The Chairman. You get there about half an hour after the plant 
 opens ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. I am not in the same building. My office is in one 
 of the branches. I am in one of the branches ; my office is not at the 
 plant. 
 
 The Chairman. Your office is not at the plant? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. In what way would it interfere with your busi- 
 ness if you were not permitted 'to accept these packages for a longer 
 period than eight hours in any one day? 
 
 Miss Langdon. It would mean that Mr. Sowers would have to put 
 on two forces, which would reduce my salary and, possibly, would 
 put me out a great deal. 
 
 The Chairman. Then your judgment is that if Mr. Sowers was 
 required to put on two forces that would result in your wages being 
 reduced — cut in half, say ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. That is, that you would get just half as much if 
 there were two employees as you are getting now! 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
HOUES OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 77 
 
 The Chairman. That is the fear you have in connection with this 
 reduction to an eight-hour Avorkday ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Did you state how long you had been employed in 
 laundry work? 
 , Miss Langdon. A year and a half. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You say you are not working at laundry work — 
 just office work in the branch office? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Then vou are not working in connection with the 
 plant? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You open your office at 8 o'clock in the morning. 
 Does not the bulk of your work come between the hours of 8 and 9 
 in the morning? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You have already stated that the bulk of that was 
 called for in the evening, between 5 and 6. In the interim you have 
 very little to do ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Very little. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You have an hour for lunch ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You are not complaining of any hard work? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Would you rather have your same hours and the same 
 pay than shorter hours and take a chance on reduced wages, which 
 you feel would necessarily come? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to ask a question that has been sug- 
 gested by the questions already propounded. When the people 
 put the laundry in in the morning that is called for on that same 
 evening, is it marked " Special " ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. And you get more for that sort of laundry work than 
 you do for regular laundry work which takes the ordinary course and 
 is delivered in the ordinary way, in the ordinary time ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. In all the laundries, or in my office only? 
 
 Mr. Howard. In your office only. 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Your laundry is the only laundry in Washington 
 that charges extra for special work ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Suppose I had a hotel and put in some laundry at 
 10 o'clock in the morning and asked for it at 5 o'clock in the after- 
 noon, what would be the additional charge which you would make ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. We have a standard price, the same standard price 
 that the other laundries in the city have, and we give the benefit of re- 
 duced rates provided you leave the work from two to three days. 
 
 Mr, Howard. Now, these girls that are engaged in this rush-order 
 work; they have to work fast and dry quick and iron fast. Do they 
 get any extra compensation for this work? 
 
 Miss Langdon. The work of the plant is arranged so that the work 
 which has come in before is put back, so that they may just have this 
 special work to work on. 
 
78 HOUKS OF LABOB FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTBICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Howard. In other words, if I put my laundry in on Tuesday, 
 which I ought to have gotten back on Friday, if there is any rush- 
 order work which comes in you displace my laundry and make me 
 wait and wear a dirty collar on Friday to get this extra compensation 
 for doing this work. Do your workers in the laundry get any extra 
 compensation for this special work? The public pays the extra price 
 that these laundries get and are inconvenienced by the delay in re- 
 ceiving their laundry. Will you explain that situation? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. May I be allowed to explain that ? This lady knows 
 nothing about the operation of the plant. She is off in another loca- 
 tion. She is one of our clerks, representing one of our branch stores, 
 whose business it is to receive the laundry and see that it is delivered 
 to the customers. She has charge of that office. The feature of extra 
 compensation can be explained in this way : We do not charge extra. 
 We do everything we can to discourage quick work, and to this very 
 end we have established this system of branch stores, and give a re- 
 duced rate below the standard rate if you bring your work and it is 
 called for and you pay cash for it, giving us three days or more to do 
 it ; we think you are entitled to a reduction ; we think you would be 
 entitled to pay less than the man to whom we have to send a wagon 
 and who has not his laundry ready, very often, when it is called for, 
 and we often have to go back three or four times, with the same thing 
 happening in the case of delivery, and possibly having a charge ac- 
 count and some of the charge accounts not collected; we think the 
 customer who brings his work to us and gives us ample time to do it 
 is entitled to a reduction over the man who brings his work to us and 
 calls for it. We do all we can to discourage rush work, so that we 
 may better regulate conditions in the laundry. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do I understand you to say you do not discourage 
 rush work? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We do as far as we can. 
 
 Mr. Howard, Do you mean to say that if I live on K Street and 
 your place is, say, on Seventh Street, and your wagon calls for my 
 laundry on Tuesday, to be delivered on Friday, that you charge me 
 more than yon do a man who lives three blocks away, if he leaves it 
 at your place and brings it back himself ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We do if your work goes through the delivery depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Would you mind putting in evidence for the infor- 
 mation of this committee your price list for rush work and your price 
 list for call work and your price list for delivery Avork? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We only have two prices; we have the standard 
 price, which applies to all except this work, and where they give us 
 sufficient time, we have given them a reduction to encourage them to 
 save our delivery teams and avoid rushing. 
 
 The Chairman. Again, it occurs to me that we are getting away 
 from the subject matter of this hearing. The Chair is unable to see 
 what the prices charged by laundries for rush work, or for work 
 that is not rush work, has to do with an eight-hour work day. 
 
 Mr. Howard. The relevancy of it is in this : They say that these 
 people are adequately paid, and they say that thev want to work 
 longer hours, and that a majority of this work is' rush work, for 
 which they receive additional compensation. The question that 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 79 
 
 occurs to me is this : If they receive this extra compensation for spe- 
 cial work, and it is a great part of the work of the laundries, if these 
 girls are not benefited from that extra compensation that is received 
 by laundries, then they would not want to work over eight hours, 
 as they have testified they do. 
 
 The Chairman. If Mr. Sowers has no objection, he may file the 
 lists, as stated. 
 
 • Mr. Sowers. I will. The idea is not that extra, but we charge 
 less if you comply with our conditions. Our prices are standard. 
 
 Branch 5. 
 Mr. 
 
 COLUMBIA LAUNDRY CO. 
 |Main office and work?, 623 G Street NW. Phone, Main 4687. ] 
 
 Mart- 
 Tohe 
 
 P 1 
 
 . Date . 
 
 
 
 ' No. 
 
 Gentlemen's list. 
 
 Price. 
 
 No. 
 
 Ladies' list. 
 
 Price 
 
 
 Shirts, plaited 12 
 
 Shirts with cuffs 12 
 
 
 
 Aprons 5 to 20 
 
 Collars, cape or emb 3 up 
 
 Caps, white 5 to 15 
 
 Chemise 20 to $r 
 
 Chemisettes 5 to 10 
 
 Cuffs, per pair 5 
 
 Corsets 15 to 25 
 
 
 ■ j i'i 
 
 
 
 
 *■?" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Drawers 8 
 
 Undershirts 8 
 
 Nightshirts . . .10 to 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Socks, per pair 5 
 
 Handkerchiefs, silk 5 
 
 Neckties 5 
 
 Coats, white 10 to 50 
 
 Pants, white 25 to 50 
 
 Vests 20 to 50 
 
 
 
 Children's dresses 15 to 75 
 
 Drawers 10 to 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Waists, ladies' 15 up 
 
 Waists, boys' 12 up 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bed and tablelinen. 
 
 Napkins 1 
 
 Tablecloths 10 up 
 
 Spreads 25 up 
 
 Pillowcases 4 up 
 
 Bolster cases 4 up 
 
 In lots amounting to 25 and over. 
 
 Tablecloths 5 up 
 
 Towels, roller 2 
 
 Sheets 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dress skirts 50 up 
 
 Underskirts 15 to 50 
 
 Under vests 5 up 
 
 Wrappers 25 to $2.50 
 
 Lace curtains, per pair 50 up 
 
 Sofa covers 25 up 
 
 Blankets, single 25 
 
 Blankets, double 50 
 
 Pillow shams 25 
 
 Splashers 5 
 
 Please report any error as soon 
 as possible with original list. 
 
 A correct list of articles should 
 accompany all work sent to the 
 laundry; in the absence of such 
 list our account must be taken as 
 correct. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 ■-Claims for lost goods must be made within 24 hours, accompanied by original list. We do not guarantee 
 colors, but utmost care is used. We are not responsible for goods left over 30 days. The above reduced 
 prices on collars and cuffs do not apply to hurried work or where wagon service is required. 
 
 No package laundered for less than 10 cents. 
 
'80 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 COLUMBIA LAUNDRY CO. 
 
 {Main office and plant, 623 G Street NW. Branch No. 2, 901 G Street NW. Branch No. 3, 620 Fourteenth 
 Street NW. Branch No. 4, 612 Fifth Street NW. Branch No. 5, 471 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. 
 Branch No. 6, 330 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Branch No. 7, 3118 Fourteenth Street NW. Branch No. 
 8, 507 G Street NW. Branch No. 9, 23 H Street NW. Branch No. 10, 2007 Fourteenth Street NW.) 
 Mr. 
 
 Residence - 
 Mark - 
 
 To be returned - 
 
 Date- 
 
 Num- 
 ber. 
 
 Gentlemen's list. 
 
 Shirts, plain 10 
 
 Shirts, open front 12 
 
 Shirts, plaited bosom 15 
 
 Shirts, with cuffs 15 
 
 Collars 2J 
 
 Cuffs, per pair 5 
 
 Drawers 8 
 
 Undershirts 8 
 
 Nightshirts 10 to 12 
 
 Socks, per pair 5 
 
 Handkerchiefs 3 
 
 Handkerchiefs, silk 5 
 
 J eekties 5 
 
 Coats, white 10 to 50 
 
 Pants, white 25 to 50 
 
 Vests 20 to 50 
 
 Bed and tabic linen. 
 
 I'apkins z. 
 
 Tablecloths lOup" 
 
 Spreads 25 up 
 
 Sheets 6 up 
 
 Pillowcases 4 up 
 
 Bolster cases 4 up 
 
 Towels 3 up 
 
 In Ms amounting to 25 cents and 
 over. 
 
 Napkins 1 
 
 Tablecloths Sup 
 
 Towels, hand i 
 
 Towels, roller 2 
 
 Towels, bath 2 
 
 Sheets 3 
 
 Pillowcases 2 
 
 Bolster i-ascs " 3 
 
 Spreads "10 
 
 Spreads, fringed 25 
 
 Scarfs, plain 2 
 
 Num- 
 ber. 
 
 Ladies' list. 
 
 Aprons 5to20 
 
 Collars, cape or emb 3 up 
 
 Caps, white 5 to 15 
 
 Chemise 20 to $1 
 
 Chemisettes 5tol0 
 
 Cuffs, per pair 5 
 
 Corsets 15 to 25 
 
 Corset covers 5 to 10 
 
 Children's dresses 15 to 75 
 
 Drawers 10 to 25 
 
 Dresses 35 to S5 
 
 Dressing sacques 10 to 35 
 
 Handkerchiefs 3 
 
 Waists, ladies' 20 up 
 
 Waists, boys' 12 up 
 
 Hose, per pair 5 
 
 Lace collars 15 to 35 
 
 Night dresses 15 to 50 
 
 Dress skirts 50 up 
 
 Underskirts 15 to 50 
 
 Undervests 5 up 
 
 Wrappers 25 to S2.50 
 
 Overall suits 25 
 
 Lace curtains, per pair 50 up 
 
 Sofa covers 25 up 
 
 Blankets, single 25 
 
 Blankets, double 50 
 
 Pillow shams 25 up 
 
 Splashers 5 
 
 Please report any error as soon 
 as possible with original list. 
 
 A correct list of articles should 
 accompany all work sent to the 
 laundry; in the absence of such 
 list our account must be taken as 
 correct 
 
 Price. 
 
 Our motto: " Promptness and superior work." 
 
 We use filtered water. Our terms are cash. Drivers must return goods unless paid for. 
 
 The Chairman. I think I understood you to say that you fear 
 that it an 8 -hour workday was enforced in this District that 
 your wages might be cut down. Now, would you prefer an 8-hour 
 workday to a 9 or 10-hour workday if the wages were the same? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir; but the position that I am in now does 
 n °t require any hard work, you might say; we do not object to if. 
 
 ±ne Chairman. I suppose you are engaged in a line of work where 
 you may rest occasionally during the day? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. You are not required to stand up continuously 
 during the day; you can sit down and rest for a long period, and^ 
 consequently you do not feel that it is any great strain upon you. 
 It an 8-hour day was required, do you not think that vou could 
 
► 
 
 HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 81 
 
 deliver those packages just as conveniently between the hours of 4 
 and 5 o'clock as you now do between the hours of 5 and 6 o'clock ? 
 L Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. What would prevent you from doing so? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Just the first statement; it would require two 
 girls. 
 
 ■ The Chairman. But if you were there between the hours of 4 and 
 I 5, as you now are between the hours of 5 and 6, could you not deliver 
 the packages just as conveniently between those hours as between 
 the hours of 5 and 6 ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. They do not come back on time. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I see Mr. Sowers telling her how to answer. You 
 may as well ask him the questions. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. She seemed a little confused. If you will permit 
 
 Mr. Gray. I would suggest that this witness is a child, and that we 
 should find out what she knows as a child. 
 
 The Chairman. Of course, I observed the fact that Mr. Sowers was 
 prompting the witness, and I prefer that Mr. Sowers should not at- 
 tempt to prompt the witness. Mr. Sowers, the witness is on the 
 stand for the purpose of furnishing testimony for this committee, 
 and the committee would prefer that Mr. Sowers should not be her 
 mouthpiece in giving testimony. 
 
 What would be the reason that the laundry could not be delivered 
 in time ? Would that be due to the fact that the work of the laundry 
 plant could not be gotten out in the length of time given? You 
 start to work at 8 o'clock; you take these rush packages and send 
 them at regular intervals, possibly up until noon. Do the packages 
 that are delivered to you after, say 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning- 
 are they delivered back to your office for distribution that same night? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. They must be there at what time? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Up until 9 o'clock. 
 
 The Chairman. All rush packages that are delivered to you before 
 9 o'clock may be delivered between 5 and 6 o'clock in the afternoon ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. And the reason, in your judgment, why these 
 packages could not be delivered between 4 and 5 o'clock is that they 
 could not do the work in the laundry in the brief time, or in the one 
 hour less time? 
 * Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. I supose you have never worked in a laundry? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. You do not know the various processes of clean- 
 ing and drying and ironing ? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Then you would not know, of your own knowl- 
 edge, whether they would be able to get the work out in that length 
 of time? You would not know that of your own knowledge? 
 
 Miss Langdon. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Is it not a fact that most of that work, whether rusn 
 orders or not, most of that regular work is called for in the hours be- 
 tween 5 and 6 o'clock, after the departments are out? 
 
 Miss Langdon. Yes, sir. 
 
 78634—13 6 
 
82 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MRS. ELIZABETH HARRIS, OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I wish now to introduce as the next witness Mrs. Har- 
 ris, who is a machine operator. . 
 
 The Chairman. Mrs. Harris, are you an operator m a laundry ( 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir. , 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I am going to object to Mr. Sowers in any manner 
 whatever suggesting answers to this witness. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I will sit at the other end of the room to show that I 
 am not suggesting answers to her. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. It will please me very much to have you do that, - 
 The Chairman. How long have you been a machine operator* 
 Mrs. Harris. Three years. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you find it a very difficult occupation to learn 
 to be a machine operator ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Well, some portions of it were very dimcult. U± 
 course, we have to be real particular to make the work a success, and 
 the girls I have seen could not learn very easily. 
 
 The Chairman. There are some parts of machine operating that 
 are rather difficult to learn? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir ; there are, to do the work properly. 
 The Chairman. You might describe, for the benefit of the com- 
 mittee, just what machine operating is in laundry work. 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Well, in my department, we work in the mangle 
 room. Of course, that work all has to be gotten out and put to the 
 feeders, and then it has to be fed down, and then it goes to the packer 
 and sorter, and then it has to be taken up and made ready to be sent 
 out. After it comes from the wash it takes some time to get it all 
 through. I was a feeder myself. 
 
 The Chairman. What kind of a machine is a mangle? Is it a 
 system of rolls ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. It is a large cylinder with the rolls over it. 
 The Chairman. And the laundry is to be put through those rolls? 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Are those rolls hot or kept warm ? 
 Mrs. Harris. It is the cylinder that heats the rolls, and, to a certain 
 extent, it is the cylinder that affords the most heat. 
 
 The Chairman. The cylinder is kept warm; how large is the 
 cylinder ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. It is the size of a good-sized mangle. I have never 
 taken the dimensions; I could not exactly say. It is a nice-propor- - 
 tioned mangle, though. , 
 
 The Chairman. The cylinder is a cylinder, say. about 2 feet in 
 diameter; 1 or 2 feet through? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes ; it is a good size ; of course it would have to be 
 to turn the linen out. 
 
 The Chairman. That cylinder is kept warm? 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir. 
 The Chairman. How warm? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. It is heated by steam, and I have never taken the 
 temperature. It has to be hot enough to dry the linen as it passes 
 down. 
 
 The Chairman. This steam is applied to the cylinder? 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir. 
 
HOURS OF LABOK FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 83 
 
 The Chairman. About how large is the room in which you work?' 
 
 Mrs. Harris. It is a large room and well ventilated. 
 
 The Chairman. Larger than this room? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Oh, yes ; twice the length of this. 
 r The Chairman. Wider than this room ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. How many mangles are in that room? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Sir ? 
 
 The Chairman. How many mangles are in that room; how many 
 machines are in there ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. There is no machinery except back next to the en- 
 gine department is the washhouse, and there is no machine near the 
 place where the mangle room is except mangles. 
 
 The Chairman. Just one mangle? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes. sir. Then the other machinery is on the floor 
 above. 
 
 ' The Chairman. Does the heat from the mangle make the room in 
 which you work warm at times? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Of course, in the extreme hot weather, it is warmer 
 than it would be otherwise ; but the room is the best- ventilated man- 
 gle room I know of, because there is a large hole that lets the light 
 in, and there is a door and there is possibly a lot of windows on the 
 floor above. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you mean by that ventilation or draft? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. There is plenty of fresh air. 
 
 The Chairman. There can be ventilation without draft, and ven- 
 tilation with draft. 
 
 Mrs. Harris. It never seemed to do any injury to anybody in any 
 way, and a draft generally makes people sick. 
 
 The Chairman. You say you have been employed at this work for 
 three years ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Were you employed at some other part of the 
 laundry work prior to that time ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. So that all your work in laundry work has been 
 the length of time you have been at this particular work ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. What are the hours of labor that you now work — 
 the number of hours you are required to work ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. I am supposed to be ready to go to work at half past 
 seven ; the machinery does not start up until that time, and it has to 
 a;et hot before you can operate it; and then we have a lunch hour, 
 and I do not think in the three years I have been there — one evening 
 [ worked until 8 o'clock, and another evening until 9, and one. other 
 evening, and that is all the overtime I have worked since I have been 
 there. I can not complain of overwork. 
 
 The Chairman. So I understand that only on three occasions you 
 lave been required to work over the regular hours? 
 Mrs. Harris. That is the only time. 
 
 The Chairman. So that this extra demand for work during the 
 "ush period has not resulted in your having to do a great deal of 
 )vertime ? 
 
84 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mrs Harris. I do not think we worked except those times— I do 
 not think there has been any time, except those, when I have not been 
 on the street going home when the 6 o'clock bell rang and when we 
 did work we were served with a nice supper and paid for our time. 
 There has not been a day since last September when there has not 
 been a large urn of coffee made for the employees there, and 1 bet 
 you will not find that in anv other place of employment that 1 know 
 of. Everybody had all the nice fresh coffee they wanted. 
 
 The Chairman. That is during the lunch hour? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. That is the lunch hour. My employer may not want 
 me to tell you that, but I just wanted to tell you we are not ill used. 
 
 The Chairman. What are the wages that are paid in the laundries 
 on the different classes of work? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Well, I understood my employer to say that that 
 question was not required to be answered by me. 
 
 The Chairman. I am not asking what your wages are. 
 
 Mrs. Harris. What the average wages are ? 
 
 The Chairman. Yes; what the general wage is. 
 
 Mrs. Harris. It is fairly good, I often hear the girls who work in 
 the laundries say. 
 
 The Chairman. What would you call a fairly good wage? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Eight to ten ; something like that. Of course, it is 
 not any big amount of money, but still it is as much as you make in 
 anything you do in Washington. 
 
 The Chairman. Is it your judgment that the workers in the laun- 
 dries do not need any legislation in regard to the number of hours 
 they should work? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Well, of course, I can not answer for everyone. I am 
 satisfied myself, so far as my time goes, and I have not heard any 
 complaints from others. I have never been affected in any way; 
 my health is not affected ; I can not complain. It is nice, clean work, 
 the cleanest work there is or that anyone can do. Everything is 
 thoroughly washed before it comes to our hands. 
 
 The Chairman. Of course, that is not the case with those who first 
 receive the laundry. 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Those who first receive it are the markers, and they 
 have to mark it and make out the lists so that the things will not be 
 misplaced. Then it goes to the washhouse, and then it comes to the 
 shaking table, and after it goes to the shaking table it comes to us, 
 to the mangle. You do not realize the processes which linen has to 
 
 fo through to get clean. It has to be handled by various people be- 
 ore we can get it, and it all takes time. On Monday I know there is 
 not half an hour's work done in the forenoon. It is all sorted and 
 marked. There are so many processes it is impossible to get it out 
 early. I speak from my own knowledge of it and knowing the time 
 it takes to get the work out. While that eight-hour system is very 
 nice, I don't see where laundry work can be accomplished and gotten 
 out in time, that way, to save my life. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Did you not know that they are doing that work 
 successfully in some States where they have that law and doing it to 
 the great advantage of the employees ? 
 Mrs. Harris. Possibly so. 
 Mr. Buchanan. The States of California and Oregon, I believe. 
 
HOUES OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 85 
 
 • Mrs. Harris. I know one thing — it would necessitate a great change 
 to accomplish it. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Well, you know the world has undergone a great 
 
 change in recent years in regard to conditions of work, largely due 
 
 to the results of the efforts of organized labor. To your knowledge, 
 
 j has there been any effort of the employees of the laundry where you 
 
 work to organize, any time you were there ? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. No, sir; I never heard any complaint among them 
 at all. 
 I Mr. Buchanan. I mean regardless of the complaint, have you any 
 i information, or have you heard any talk about an organization ? 
 f Mrs. Harris. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. But women even organize sometimes. 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Yes ; sometimes those that do not work organize. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We have very peaceable women in my establishment. 
 
 Mr. King. May I ask one question? 
 
 The Chairman. No ; not at this time. 
 
 Mr. King. May I make this statement ? 
 
 The Chairman. Not at this time ; not until the witness is through. 
 
 Mr. Howard. What about section 2 ? Do you approve of this law 
 that lets girls under 18 years out of their places of employment at 
 6 o'clock in the evening, so that they may go home to their parents? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. Of course, everybody wants to be home; but I think 
 when they go and seek this employment and know the hours, know 
 the restrictions, and are contented and accept the work and salary, 
 ^1 do not think they should get off sooner than their time requires 
 them to. There are two ways of looking at that. I go voluntarily 
 to take a place and am content with my salary and hours, and put in 
 that work and I am satisfied. 
 ? The Chairman. "As a matter of fact, though, Mrs. Harris, you 
 would not go seeking a place anywhere if it were not for the fact 
 that the physical and mental necessities require you to find employ- 
 ment? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. I do not know that my mental faculties are con- 
 cerned. 
 
 The Chairman. People seek employment because their needs, their 
 wants are such that they have to earn something. 
 
 Mrs. Harris. I have always worked; I always worked on the 
 farm, and I always worked when I was in my home. 
 
 The Chairman. So that people do not seek employment volun- 
 tarily ; they seek employment because their necessities impel them to 
 find it? 
 
 Mrs. Harris. I do not think anyone would go to work who had 
 plenty to live on. If you live in Washington City, or any other city, 
 you have got to pay so much to get on that if you have not got any- 
 thing you have to work. 
 
 The Chairman. So that you have to work because the necessities 
 require you to seek employment? 
 
 Thereupon, at 11.55 o'clock a. m., the committee adjourned to meet 
 at 10 o'clock a. m. Saturday, February 8, 1913. 
 
86 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Committee on Labor, 
 House of Representatives, 
 
 Washington, February 8, 1913. 
 
 The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. William B. "Wilson 
 (chairman presiding). 
 
 There were present before the committee Mr. King, representing 
 King's Palace, 810-816 Seventh Street NW., Washington, D. C, and 
 Miss M. L. Obenauer, of the Bureau of Labor, Department of Com- 
 merce and Labor. 
 
 The Chairman. Are your witnesses here, Mr. King? 
 
 Mr. King. They are not here yet, Mr. Chairman, but I think they 
 will be in a very few minutes. 
 
 The Chairman. We have some important matters coming up on 
 the floor of the House at 10.30, and we ought to be there. There is 
 a representative of the Bureau of Labor here, from whom we would 
 like to get some definite statistics and figures. In all of the state- 
 ments that have been made we have had but generalizations, and we 
 would like to get some specific information if we can. Miss Oben- 
 auer, if you are ready to proceed, will you please give your full 
 name and official position. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MISS M. L. OBENAUER, WASHINGTON, D. C, REP- 
 RESENTING THE BUREAU OF LABOR, DEPARTMENT OF COM- 
 MERCE AND LABOR. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I live at the Westminster Apartment, Seventeenth 
 and Q NW., and I am connected with the Bureau of Labor. 
 
 The Chairman. Miss Obenauer, have you made any investigation 
 of the labor conditions and housing conditions in the District of 
 Columbia with regard to wageworkers ? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. We have made a study of the hours, the duration 
 of employment of women engaged in the manufacturing, mechanical, 
 and mercantile establishments in the city of Washington. We did 
 not go into the housing question. The only data of that kind which 
 we gathered had to do with the proportion of women living at home 
 or boarding and lodging or living independently without the back- 
 ing of the home, where the home might be regarded as an asset. 
 When I say " living at home "' I am referring not to women who 
 were maintaining themselves in one or two rooms and spending the 
 day in either mercantile or manufacturing establishments. We did 
 not rate such a woman as living at home, even though she were doing 
 her own cooking. She was classed as living independently. 
 
 The Chairman. Will you state for the information of the com- 
 mittee what, in a concrete way, you found in connection with the 
 hours of labor and wages and the proportionate number of women 
 that lived at home or boarded ? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. May I state first, Mr. Chairman, that we called 
 upon 332 women employed in stores — when I say " stores " I mean 
 the large department stores and the specialty stores and retail stores. 
 We compared our list as to occupations with the pay-roll data after- 
 wards submitted by the employers in 11 different establishments, and 
 we found that the percentage of each occupation — that is, for the girls 
 and saleswomen and the other occupations prevailing in stores — was 
 
HOURS OF LABOK FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 87 
 
 substantially the same, so that we felt Ave had a fair list. I am only 
 
 , telling you this in order that you may know how much credence to 
 
 give to our figures. We found in the stores that approximately 78 
 
 per cent of the women, nearly four-fifths, lived at home. That is, 
 
 , 22.3 per cent of the women were boarding and rooming or living in- 
 
 I dependency, as I have described. In the mechanical and manufac- 
 
 I turing industries we found that there were approximately 26 per 
 
 cent who were boarding, rooming, or living independently— that is, 
 
 74 per cent were living at home. 
 
 Now, as to wages, Mr. Chairman, the material in this table was 
 given to the Senate committee and made a part of their record. Do 
 you wish me to leave it here to become a part of your record? 
 . The Chairman. "We would like to have it included as a part of the 
 record, but you might state briefly the substance of it. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I am going to give you what the individual sched- 
 ules show, and then what the pay rolls show, because our method in 
 getting this information was to get the statement of both the em- 
 ployers and employees. I wish to say also that in all except a few 
 cases we met with no reluctance on the part of the employers. They 
 gave us the information freely, and as a result there was very little 
 difference in the figures shown by employees and employers. There 
 is one exception that I may point out later on. The general average 
 wage for the women upon whom we called, including all occupa- 
 tions, was $6.55. The pay roll data showed $6.75. 1 would call your 
 attention to the fact that the pay roll refers to rates of pay. The in- 
 dividual schedules were earnings for the year previous to December 
 1, 1912. I also wish to say that four-fifths of the women in the in- 
 dividual schedules showed employment from 48 to 52 weeks. In the 
 manufacturing and mechanical industries, I think it was 59 per cent ; 
 that is, 59 per cent showed so long a duration compared with 80 per 
 cent in the stores. I think that should be taken into consideration in 
 judging of the wage. That is the reason I am speaking of it here. 
 
 Now, if you wish the groups that were earning specified wages I 
 can give them to you briefly. Over two-thirds of the women em- 
 ployed are employed as saleswomen. For saleswomen, the individual 
 schedules showed an average wage of $6.36 ; the pay-roll data showed 
 an average of $6.55. Now do you wish those by groups, Mr. Chair- 
 man, those that were earning $10 and more, $8.99. etc. ? 
 The Chairman. Yes; we would like to have them that way. 
 Miss Obenauer. I will give you the pay-roll data, for the reason 
 that in a list of 300 or so the higher paid people rather thin out. The 
 pay rolls cover over 2,600 women. The individual schedules, while 
 they show what the earnings were for the rank and file compared with 
 the rates of pay ; were not gathered in numbers large enough to in- 
 clude many representatives of the higher but less frequent wage 
 grades. Of 1,760 saleswomen, averaging $6.55, according to the pay 
 roll, there were 225, or 12.8 per cent earning $10 or more ; there were 
 226, or approximately 12.8 per cent, earning from $8 to $9.99 ; 11 per 
 cent, composing some 195 women; were earning from $7 to $7.99. 
 There were 17 per cent, or 300 women, earning from $6 to $6.99. 
 There were 358, .or 20.4 per cent ; earning from $5 to $5.99. There 
 were 361 women, or 20.5 per cent, earning from $4 to $4.99. There 
 were 95 women, or 5.4 per cent, earning from $3 to $3.99, and there 
 
88 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 were none earning under $3 per week. These are the groupings for 
 the saleswomen only. I will say that our figures were substantially 
 the same, and when I say " our own figures " I mean the figures given 
 by individuals. I wish also to say that this $6.75 general average for 
 the 2,600 women includes all the buyers and assistant buyers, except 
 nine, who were receiving $4,200 a year. If you put in these buyers, 
 who were receiving on the average $4,200 a year, the pay-roll data 
 will show an average of $7 per week instead of $6.75. Do you wish 
 groupings for the other occupations? 
 
 The Chairman. No; I would suggest that it be put in the record, 
 as our time is very brief this morning. Let it go in at this point. 
 
 The table referred to is as follows: 
 
 ^1 rerage weekly earnings of 252 department-store women individually scheduled, . 
 compared with weelely rate of pay as given by 11 establishments. 
 
 
 Number of women earning specified weekly amounts. 
 
 a 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 6 
 179 
 
 29 
 
 2 18 
 
 
 Occupation. 
 
 $2 to 
 $2.99. 
 
 $3 to 
 $3.99. 
 
 $4 to 
 $4.99. 
 
 $5 to 
 55.99. 
 
 $6 to 
 $6.99. 
 
 $7 to 
 $7.99. 
 
 $8 to 
 $9.99. 
 
 $10 or 
 more. 
 
 it 
 
 
 5J 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 Z 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 Z 
 
 — 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 s> 
 
 is 
 g 
 
 3 
 Z 
 
 la 
 
 
 S3 
 
 a 
 3 
 
 z 
 
 +3 
 
 a 
 
 CD 
 
 en 
 
 a 
 3 
 
 Z 
 
 § 
 
 O 
 
 f 
 
 8 
 3 
 Z 
 
 1 
 
 CD 
 
 CD 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 Z 
 
 3 
 CD 
 CJ 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 a 
 3 
 z 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 CD 
 
 3 
 
 © 
 
 t3 
 
 t-s 
 
 > 
 
 < 
 
 From individual 
 schedules. 
 
 Cash girls, bun- 
 dle wrappers, 
 errand girls, etc. 
 
 9 
 
 47.4 
 
 9 
 
 47.4 
 
 1 
 
 5.2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Inspectors and 
 cashiers 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 27 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 15.1 
 (') 
 
 4 
 19 
 
 6 
 
 10.6 
 (') 
 
 1« 
 
 1 
 36 
 
 5 
 1 
 
 (») 
 
 20.1 
 (') 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 2 
 
 73.0 
 
 36 
 6 
 
 20.1 
 
 34 
 . 4 
 
 19.0 
 0) 
 
 14 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 7.8 
 (') 
 
 6.36 
 6.53 
 
 13.15 
 
 Office help (cleri- 
 cal) 
 
 1 
 
 0) 
 
 Other employees, 
 including de- 
 partment 
 heads and buy- 
 ers 2 
 
 
 10 
 44 
 
 4.0 
 16.5 
 
 24 
 
 186 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 From establish- 
 ment pay rolls. 
 
 Cash girls, mes- 
 sengers, bundle 
 wrappers, er- 
 rand girls, etc... 
 
 9.5 
 69.7 
 
 3 44 
 26 
 
 17.5 
 9.7 
 
 38 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 358 
 
 23 
 
 5 
 398 
 
 15.1 
 
 2.6 
 
 11.1 
 20.4 
 
 9.1 
 1.4 
 
 31 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 300 
 
 42 
 43 
 
 12.3 
 
 1.12 
 
 40.0 
 17.0 
 
 16.7 
 12.4 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 195 
 
 37 
 62 
 
 11.9 
 
 .4 
 
 24.4 
 11.1 
 
 14.7 
 17.9 
 
 43 
 
 17.0 
 
 32 
 
 12.7 
 
 3 252 
 
 267 
 
 45 
 ■"1,760 
 
 252 
 346 
 
 6.55 
 3.20 
 
 Inspectors and 
 
 8 
 226 
 
 47 
 73 
 
 17.8 
 12.8 
 
 18.6 
 21.1 
 
 3 
 
 225 
 
 44 
 119 
 
 6.7 
 12.8 
 
 17.5 
 34.4 
 
 7.30 
 6.55 
 
 7.57 
 
 
 
 
 95 
 14 
 
 18 
 313 
 
 5.4 
 5.6 
 
 5.2 
 11.7 
 
 361 
 45 
 
 14 
 446 
 
 20.5 
 
 17.8 
 
 4.1 
 16.7 
 
 Office help (cleri- 
 
 
 
 Other employees, 
 including de- 
 partment 
 heads and buy- 
 
 12 
 56 
 
 3.5 
 2.1 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 15.0 
 
 406 
 
 15.2 
 
 306 
 
 11.5 
 
 354 
 
 13.2 
 
 391 
 
 14.6 
 
 2,670 
 
 6 6.75 
 
 J Percentages not given, as numbers are too small to make percentages significant 
 
 2 Does not include workshop women, as they are tabulated under manufacturinE industries 
 
 ! J nc . lu ° es ?? e whose occupation is not reported and does not include 17, wages not reported 
 
 ,•„ tw i? 7° rksll0 P women of one large department store, which included them with saleswomen 
 
 in tneir pay-roll data. 
 
 s In this average 9 buyers whose average wage was $80.75 a week were not included, as among the indi- 
 viduals scheduled there were none of this grade. With these 9 buyers included, the average wage would 
 
HOURS OF LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 89 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Now, for the manufacturing establishments. I 
 will say/first, however, as has been said here before, that there are not 
 many women, comparatively speaking, employed in the manufactur- 
 ing and mercantile industries. The census of 1910 gives an average 
 of 828 in the manufacturing establishments, exclusive of the steam 
 laundries. Including steam laundries there are about 1,500. We" 
 interviewed personally about 10 per cent of them— a fairly repre- 
 sentative "though not very large list. We adopted the same policy 
 of calling upon the employers for information, in order that we 
 might compare that with the information which we had received 
 from the employees, and in all instances we received the hearty co- 
 operation of the employers, except in the case of the laundries, and 
 there we encountered some reluctance. In one case we had an abso- 
 lute refusal; in others the information was given very reluctantly, 
 and I must say that in those cases we had some very serious dis- 
 crepancies between the information given us by the employers and 
 that given us by the employees. May I say that our policy in this 
 matter was this: We had 40 or 50 laundry girls and we grouped 
 them according to hours. We tabulated their hours and earnings, 
 and then we called upon their employers in order that Ave might have 
 their statement. Now, I may ask, Mr. Chairman, that this reluct- 
 ance ought not to be ascribed to the laundrymen as a whole. In 
 fact, I am sure since this report has been closed that there are quite 
 a number of laundrymen from whose establishments we did not 
 have individual schedules, that would take the view that no matter 
 what the conditions are, nothing could arouse more sinister sus- 
 picions than the refusal to give information when it is called for 
 from a responsible and impartial source. 
 
 I hope that this statement may be made a part of the record, 
 in order that this reluctance may not be charged against all the 
 laundrymen. In regard to the earnings I wish to say that the dis- 
 crepancies between the statements of employees and employers that 
 I spoke of do not apply. We got from three of the laundrymen — 
 proprietors of not very large laundries, for some of the most reluc- 
 tant were proprietors of the largest laundries — we got from three 
 laundries average earnings of $5.47, according to the pay-roll data 
 submitted, and our own schedules were approximately the same; 
 a little lower, but about the same. 
 
 In the matter of working hours I think I have not as yet sub- 
 mitted data before this committee. Do you want that? 
 
 The Chairman. Yes ; we would like to have it. 
 
 Mis Obenatjer. I will give you first a summary of normal work- 
 ing hours in the laundries, reported by the individuals. We had_ 44 
 laundry girls who gave us definite information as to their working 
 hours. There were 22.7 per cent of those who reported from 48 to 
 54 normal working hours. Twenty-one of the 44 reported from 55 
 to 59 hours. 
 
 Mr. Gray. Pardon me, Mr. Chairman, but it is evident that we 
 will not be able to hear of the statement of this witness, and I am 
 very anxious to get to the House. Could this be continued to some 
 other time? I am willing to come back any number of times. 
 
 Mr. Chairman. I would suggest, Mr. Gray, that we get through 
 with this particular phase of it, and then we can consider the ques- 
 Jion of whether we will go on. 
 
90 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I will talk a little faster. There were 18 per 
 cent working 60 to 64 hours, and there were about 7 per cent work- 
 ing from 65 to 68 hours. That was for the normal working hours. 
 Now, for the summary of working hours on the maximum day— I 
 want to say that the maximum day in the laundries should be taken 
 into consideration, so far as the working hours are concerned, with 
 the two short days that usually do occur in the laundries every- 
 where, Mondays and Saturdays. The individual reports that we 
 had do show some extreme maximum days, but in those laundries 
 I want to make very sure that those days will not be taken as pre- 
 vailing, but as the maximum days that occur in the sporadic rushes 
 that come upon them when there is an extra convention or an extra 
 hotel order. This is a summary of the working hours of maximum 
 days during overtime weeks, as shown by the individual reports. 
 There were 5 per cent that worked less than 11 hours during the 
 entire overtime season. There were 15 per cent that worked just an 
 even 11 hours. There were 44 per cent that worked 12 hours. 
 There were 34 per cent that worked 13 hours on maximum days. 
 
 The Chairman. Could you file those papers with the stenographer? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Yes, sir. Do you wish me to go any further? 
 
 The Chairman. No ; I think at this point would probably be as 
 good a place as you could find. Will it be possible for you to be 
 present on Monday? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. King. I leave town to-morrow ; I do not know about Mr. 
 Andrews, but if the gentlemen will bear with me about three min- 
 utes I would like to read you a letter that will go in the record 
 
 The Chairman (interposing). I am afraid we will not have time 
 for that now, Mr. King. 
 
 Mr. Kixci. I will have it read Monday, then. 
 
 The Chairman. Very well. Otherwise you can insert it in the 
 record. The committee will stand adjourned until 10 o'clock Mon- 
 dav morning. 
 
 Committee on Labor, 
 House of Representatives, 
 Monday, February 10, 1913. 
 The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. William B. Wilson 
 (chairman) presiding. 
 
 There were present before the committee Miss M. L. Obenauer, of 
 the Bureau of Labor, Department of Commerce and Labor; C F. 
 Sowers, E. B. Farren, and others. 
 
 The Chairman. The committee will be in order. You may pro- 
 ceed, Miss Obenauer. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MISS M. L. OBENAUER— Continued. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Mr. Chairman, may I say, before I go on with my 
 statement — I suppose it is not within the jurisdiction of the com- 
 mittee to see that the papers do justice, but I feel as though a gross 
 wrong has been done the laundrymen in the report that appeared in 
 the paper Saturday night, and I wanted to make very sure that the 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 91 
 
 committee understood that what I said in the way of criticism of 
 what you might call the reluctance of certain laundrymen should 
 not be charged against all of the laundrymen. In the paper Satur- 
 day night the report appeared as a criticism of all the laundrymen 
 in the city, and the criticism was inclosed in quotation marks, as if 
 it was coming from me directly. I want to state here again this 
 morning that we had from 40 to 50 laundry girls, and when we had 
 their hours and earnings classified Ave called upon the proprietors 
 of the establishments in which those girls were employed in order to 
 have their statement of the hours and the earnings. There were 7 
 laundries of the 17 listed in the census of 1910. That list included 
 some of the largest and some of the moderate laundries. One of those 
 laundrymen refused outright to give us any information ; three others 
 were more or less reluctant. The others gave us the information, 
 and I want to repeat that in those cases there were practically no 
 discrepancies between the statements from the -employees and the 
 employers as to working hours and earnings. In the other cases 
 there were some very serious discrepancies. 
 
 For example, one laundryman who stated the hours — after having 
 refused to give any information — said they never exceeded 54. We 
 had reports from 15 employees in his establishment reports taken 
 by five or six agents in different parts of the city at the same time. 
 These individual reports showed that the hours were in excess of 
 those reported by the employer, from 6 to about 18 in the week. 
 Inasmuch as the information was from individuals in different parts 
 of the city, and there was no chance for collusion, and inasmuch as 
 the laundryman was very reluctant and evasive in his answers, we felt 
 that the information from the employees should stand. We have 
 recorded the information from the employer, but we have in the 
 report footnoted the fact that there were 15 people in the establish- 
 ment who reported different hours. I want to say again, however, 
 that this should not be charged against all of the laundrymen. It is 
 grossly unfair to do so. 
 
 The Chairman. I might say, Miss Obenauer, that your statement 
 is exactly as I understood it when you made it here on Saturday. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I tried to make myself plain, and I was milch dis- 
 tressed to see that statement in the paper. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Is that your first experience of misrepresentation 
 in the paper ? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I have not had much experience in newspaper 
 representations before. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I have gotten to the point where I do not take 
 time to notice them. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Might I at this point ask the witness a question? 
 Inasmuch as this conflicting information reflects upon the laundry- 
 men who are in opposition to this bill, may I ask her if those cases 
 where she met with reluctance, and the one case where they met 
 with a flat refusal— if those laundrymen are the ones who have 
 
 3.DD63T*6Q Xl6rC . 
 
 The Chairman. I hardly think that question would be a proper 
 question, unless Miss Obenauer specifies who the individuals were 
 that refused, and I do not know that this committee cares particu- 
 larly about that. For that reason, unless it was the purpose to state 
 
92 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 specifically who the ones were that refused, I would object to the 
 question as presented. , 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In the impressions made by the papers it would 
 look— especially the Saturday accounts— that the attack was particu- 
 larly on myself, as I was the laundryman who was reluctant. May 
 I ask whether, I was interviewed or not ? 
 
 The Chairman. I would have the same objection to that question, 
 unless the whole matter is to be taken up and specific statements 
 made as to who were the ones that refused and the ones that were 
 reluctant. . 
 
 Miss Obenauer. May I say there, as I understand it, 1 am under 
 oath to give no information as to individuals or firms. I think that 
 is my status. 
 
 The Chairman. I understood that to be the case, and tor that 
 reason I would not want to have enter into the record here any 
 statement that by the process of elimination would result in the 
 discovery of that which you are sworn to conceal. Hence my 
 objection. 
 
 Mr. E. B. Farren. The hours of the laundries, in the great ma- 
 jority of them that I am interested in, are about 54 hours a week. 
 In my particular laundry we work on Mondays 
 
 The Chairman (interposing). I must also object to any interjec- 
 tion of this matter at this time. Miss Obenauer is on the stand 
 now. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I think on Saturday I stated the hours as given 
 by 44 women from 7 laundries of the city. I gave the hours by 
 the week and then I gave the maximum working day. I think 
 I should say that the hours — that is, the daily hours— for 54 per cent 
 of these workers were 10. Now, when I say the " usual " day. I 
 mean that which occurred more than any other, according to their 
 reports. I want to say also that this included a number of women 
 who were employed in establishments doing a great deal of hotel 
 flat work. The hours where the flat work prevailed seemed to be 
 longer, and the employers themselves who gave us information 
 reported longer hours where the flat work was heavy than where 
 bundle work or specialty work prevailed. 
 
 Also, I want to call your attention to the fact that there are 
 usually 2 short days in the laundry. Monday work and Saturday 
 work, so that this " usual day " would apply to but 4 days. Now, 
 that is the information given us by the women themselves. We had 
 interviewed, as I said, seven laundrymen, and one man refused infor- 
 mation altogether. From four of the other places the prevailing 
 hours for the normal season were from 48 to 59 hours; that is, two 
 of them gave from 48 to 54 and two gave from 55 to 59. When I 
 say " normal," perhaps I ought to explain to guard against confu- 
 sion. The laundrymen who have appeared before you have spoken 
 of their busy season. We have called that normal which occurs for 
 a half or more of the year; that is, that which was usual we have 
 called normal. It appears from the testimony given by the laundry- 
 men that they divide their seasons into busy and dull, and they have 
 nothing that we have called " normal," so if you will simply bear in 
 mind that when I say " normal " I mean that which we have regarded 
 
HOUBS OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 93 
 
 as the level of their good business. Two of them gave from 48 to 54 
 and two others from 55 to 59. 
 
 ;,, Now, Mr. Chairman, I have taken this laundry matter out of the 
 general information concerning women in manufacturing and mer- 
 cantile establishments, because there seemed to be some stressing of 
 laundry information. I wanted to call your attention to the fact 
 that some of the information before this committee made it plain that 
 the hours were very different for different occupations. That is 
 entirely true. 
 
 For example, the markers, who handle soiled clothes, would have 
 different hours from the ironers. Their work involved certain occu- 
 pational demands, that are not made upon the ironors. On the other 
 hand, the ironers have some physical strain that the people in the 
 offices and the markers do not have. 
 
 The Chairman. You stated, I believe, Miss Obenauer, that you 
 found the average wage in the laundry to be $5.47 per week ? 
 
 f Miss Obenauer. There were three laundrymen who gave us their 
 pay rolls, and there were 67 in those laundries that averaged $5.47 
 a week. For the 44 women individually scheduled I think the aver- 
 age was a little bit less, but substantially the same. 
 
 The Chairman. What did you find to be the maximum wage and 
 what the minimum wage upon which that average is based ? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. We had two of them that got $10 or more. We 
 had none that were getting less than $4 on the pay roll. Now, I say 
 we had none getting under $4 — we had none getting a rate of pay 
 
 1 under $4, but we had some whose average earnings for the period of 
 employment were something under $4 — -$3.75, owing to lost time, but 
 the rate of pay would substantially agree with this statement here 
 from the pay rolls. 
 
 1 The Chairman. You found that practically the minimum rate of 
 pay was $4 per week and the maximum rate of pay was $10 per 
 week, with the exception of two individuals who were upward of $10 
 per week ? 
 
 t Miss Obenauer. No ; this pay roll gives $10 or more. If you will 
 excuse me just a moment I can tell you whether we had any wage 
 over $10 a week [examining papers] . 
 
 The Chairman. I understood you to say that there were two that 
 received $10 or more. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. The pay rool showed two that had $10 or more, 
 but I do not know without examining the records how much higher 
 than $10. Now was there anything further on the laundries that 
 you wanted ? 
 The Chairman. No; I think you have covered that very fully. 
 Miss Obenauer. I might say right here that the number of women 
 employed in steam laundries is about 700, between 600 and 700, and 
 that the number of people employed in manufacturing establishments, 
 such as paper boxes — and we have included there tailoring and dress- 
 making — were 828, acording to the 1910 census. So there are not 
 many altogether. We interviewed about 10 per cent of them, and we 
 
 grouped their hours altogether; that is, we treated them all as one 
 group, as we" treated all m the stores as one group — as I stated the 
 
 other day. 
 
94 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Chairman. I do not recall that you stated the whole number 
 in mercantile establishments. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. In the mercantile establishments there were on the 
 pay rolls submitted to us nearly 2,700. The census of manufactures 
 does not give the number of people employed in trade, because it is 
 a census of manufacturing, not of trade. The population division 
 has issued a bulletin, and in there they have a .grouping of clerks 
 and of saleswomen. They have reported 1,440 saleswomen, and then 
 they have another grouping of some 5,000 clerks, and a footnote 
 saying, " This probably includes a great many people in the stores." 
 It is pretty hard to say how many people are included, but I would 
 think, judging from our pay rolls — the firms included on these pay 
 rolls — that we probably had in our pay roll data two-thirds of the 
 women employed in the retail places of the city. 
 
 The Chairman. In the classification of clerks in which this 5,000 
 are included does that take in generally the clerks in offices? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Outside the Government. In fact, I think the 
 purpose of the Population Division was to include in that only people 
 known as clerks in offices, stenographers : and so forth, because the 
 footnote would indicate that there had slipped in a good many that 
 were really salespeople, and for that reason, as I say. it is pretty hard 
 to state absolutely. 
 
 The Chairman. This information had not been properly obtained 
 by the enumerators. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Yes. Now, then, taking all these women included 
 in the manufacturing and mechanical, which would include the laun- 
 dries, the normal working hours for 55 per cent of them were from 
 48 to 54, the prevailing day being from 8 to 9. By " normal " I mean 
 the level of good business. 
 
 The Chairman. That did not make it very clear to me, and I do 
 not know that it does to the others, as to whether the normal period 
 as included in your reports is similar to the busy period as stated 
 here or to the dull period as stated here. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. It was the same as the busy period as stated here. 
 In the laundry business it covers about January 1 to July — the usual 
 time that Congress is in session. Our purpose when we said " nor- 
 mal '" was to get that which prevailed during the greater part of the 
 year 
 
 Mr. Buchanan (interposing). If you speak of the time that Con- 
 gress is in session, that is about all the time now. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Now, of those that worked in the busy seasons 
 about 50 per cent worked overtime, and 60 per cent of those that were 
 working overtime worked from 2 to 10 weeks. That does not mean 
 every day in the week. I would call your attention to the fact that 
 this 60 per cent is something of a contrast with the number of women 
 in stores that worked overtime during the Christmas holidays. 
 Something like 90 per'cent of the women that were interviewed and 
 were in the stores at Christmas time worked overtime. On the 
 other hand, the women in the stores worked overtime for one week, 
 and very few of them were paid for it — only about 8 per cent. In 
 the manufacturing and mechanical, 60 per cent worked from -2 to 
 10 weeks overtime. You see, overtime is not so sharp there: 
 
HOUES OP LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 95 
 
 The Chairman. How much overtime did they work during that 
 period of two to six weeks ? 
 
 Miss Obenauee. I will come back .to that directly — well, I have 
 it right here in this note. Twenty-eight per cent of the women that 
 were working overtime — as compared with 65 per cent in the stores — • 
 worked from 70 to 79 hours. Let me state that again, Mr. Chairman, 
 because one condition somewhat offsets the other. Sixty-five per 
 cent of the people were working overtime in the stores during the 
 Christmas holiday week and were working 70 to 79 hours. In the 
 manufacturing industries there were 28 per cent that worked the 
 hours I have named, 70 to 79 hours, but they worked a longer time — 
 that is, from 2 to 10 weeks — whereas the people in the stores worked 
 
 I week or at most 2 weeks. 
 
 There was no tendency in the manufacturing and mechanical 
 establishments to lengthen the hours on Saturday. In the stores, 
 over half of them had a long Saturday. Over 62 per cent worked 
 
 II hours or over on Saturday in the normal season, and that occurs 
 throughout the year exclusive of the dull summer months, the dull 
 season lasting not more than 11 or 12 weeks. In the manufacturing 
 and mechanical there is no tendency to lengthen the hours on Satur- 
 day during overtime seasons. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. In the manufacturing did they pay for overtime? 
 
 Miss Obenauee. In the manufacturing and mechanical, yes; per- 
 haps I had better single out the printing trades and the dressmaking 
 and tailoring. It is the usual custom to pay for overtime. I think 
 there was no exception to that. 
 ' Mr. Buchanan. Did they pay anything more than the usual rate ? 
 
 Miss Obenauee. Time and a half seems to be the prevailing rate, 
 although we found instances of double time. 
 
 , The Chaieman. I regret that we must cut off these hearings again 
 at this point. We will adjourn now until 9.30 to-morrow morning. 
 
 Committee on Laboe, 
 • - House or Representatives, 
 
 ;)'• Tuesday, February 11, 1913. 
 
 The committee met at 9.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. William B. Wilson 
 
 (chairman) presiding. There were present before the committee: 
 
 Miss M. L. Obenauer, representing the Bureau of Labor ; U * - 
 
 Sowers, 823 G Street NW, manager Columbia Laundry; K. V. 
 
 Andrews, acting president, Retail Merchants Association; George *. 
 
 Hebbard secretary, Merchant Tailors Exchange; Archibald Mc- 
 
 Sween, superintendent, National Publishing Co ; E K Farren, 1723 
 
 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., representing the West End Laundry 
 
 F. C. Chorley, 1018 Fourteenth Street NW ; A P. Avaleai, 2117 
 
 ! Fourteenth Streeet NW., representing the Elite Laundry Co.; John 
 
 r C W^eman 914 F Street NW.; L* A. Sterne, 701 Massachusetts 
 
 I Avenue NW, first vice president, Maryland State Federation of 
 
 . Llbor and D. F. Manning, 1521 Eighth Street NW, representing 
 
 the Retail Clerks Union. ,„, , ,,. nKori „ llpT . 
 
 \ The Chaieman. The committee will be in order. Miss Obenauer 
 
 will proceed. 
 
96 HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MISS M. L. OBENAUEE, REPRESENTING THE 
 BUREAU OF LABOR, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR— 
 Continued. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Mr. Chairman, I think I was specifying the in- 
 dustries that were paying overtime for work when the committee 
 had to adjourn yesterday. I have stated that it was the universal 
 custom to pay for overtime in the manufacturing and mechanical 
 industries. We found one exception to that — and I have made sure 
 that I was right in what I am about to say, and that was that in the 
 laundry work we did not find any instances of payment for over- 
 time. That was the only exception affecting the women individually 
 scheduled in the manufacturing and mechanical industries. I would 
 like to put into the record, Mr. Chairman, the pay-roll data that we 
 secured from the manufacturing and mechanical establishments, 
 covering the rate of pay for about 326 women; also what we got 
 from the women individually. I want to say before I put the tables 
 in that I think the figures secured from the women individually are 
 really fairer to the industries than the pay-roll data, for this reason: 
 The pay rolls represent the flat rates of pay for a normal day and 
 show an average for the 326 women of $5.74, while the individual 
 women that were scheduled reported pay for both normal and over- 
 time hours and showed an average earning of $7.13. I think I said 
 before that in the case of the printing and the tailoring establish- 
 ments, and also in the case of the laundries, the pay rolls and in- 
 dividual schedules showed a substantial agreement as to rates of 
 pay. The printing trade showed an average of $8.16 and the tailor- 
 ing nearly $10 — $9.86, the laundries $5.47. These figures are the 
 same as those submitted here to the committee by the representatives. 
 The table based upon individual schedules is arranged in wage 
 groups rather than by industries. The footnotes, however, throw 
 some light upon the wage by industries. The table referred to is 
 as follows : 
 
 ~Weelcly rates of pay of in men employed in selected manufacturing and me- 
 chanical establishments in Washington, D. C, as shown by establishment pay 
 rolls. 
 
 
 .3 . 
 
 i 
 
 Number of women earning specified weekly amounts. 
 
 .3 
 >> 
 
 
 ffl.Ed 
 
 ft 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pV h 
 
 
 l( f? JH 
 
 
 Less 
 
 S4to 
 
 $5 to 
 
 $6 to 
 
 $7 to 
 
 $8 to $9.99. 
 
 $10 and 
 
 .— ~ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 than $4. 
 
 $4.99. 
 
 $5.99. 
 
 $6.99. 
 
 $7.99. 
 
 more. 
 
 og 
 
 Industry. 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 aa 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 as 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 % 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 3 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 S2 
 
 1 
 
 I* 
 
 a 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 £2 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 
 Ms 
 
 a 
 
 > 
 
 
 A 
 
 e 
 
 A 
 
 Ph 
 
 •a 
 
 p* 
 
 A 
 
 Ph 
 
 A 
 
 Ph 
 
 A 
 
 m 
 
 A 
 
 Ph 
 
 A 
 
 Ph 
 
 < 
 
 Laundry 
 
 3 
 
 07 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 11.90 40 
 
 59 7 
 
 11 
 
 16.40 
 
 fi 
 
 8.90 
 
 
 
 
 
 2.98 
 
 $547 
 
 3 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •>•> 
 
 100.00 
 
 
 
 8 16 
 
 
 ? 
 
 57 
 
 
 
 
 | 1 
 
 1 8 
 
 n 
 
 40.35 
 
 09 
 
 38.60 
 
 
 11 
 
 19.30 
 
 7 14 
 
 
 ? 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 71.40 
 
 9 Sfi 
 
 Supply house 
 
 1 
 
 139 
 
 
 
 94 
 
 67.62 15 
 
 1(1 8 
 
 7 
 
 5.03 
 
 fi 
 
 4.3ll 9 
 
 6.47 
 
 8 
 
 5 75 
 
 5 25 
 
 
 1 
 
 27 
 
 7 
 
 25.91 
 
 9 
 
 33.33 | 2 
 
 7.4 
 
 5 
 
 18.51 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 11.10 
 
 1 
 
 3.70 
 
 5.30 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totall 
 
 12 
 
 326 
 
 7 
 
 2.1 
 
 111 
 
 34.00! 58 
 
 1 
 
 17.8 
 
 46 
 
 14.1 
 
 35 
 
 10.8 j 37 
 
 11.4 
 
 32 
 
 9.80 
 
 5.74 
 
HOUBS OF LABOK FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 97 
 
 iverapc weekly earnings of tc.niai employed in manufacturing and mechanical 
 industries as shown by individual schedules. 
 
 Classified average weekly earnings. 
 
 Women e a r n i n g 
 specified weekly 
 amounts. 
 
 52 to $2.99 
 
 53 to $3.99 
 
 14 to $4.99 
 
 $5 to $5.99 
 
 $6 to $6.99 
 
 $7 to $7.99 
 
 $8 to $8.99 i 
 
 $10 or more 
 
 Total 
 
 Average weekly earnings. $7.13. 
 
 1 75 per cent were employed by laundries and drug companies. 
 
 5 55.9 per cent were employed by laundries. 
 
 "• 37.5 per cent were employed by tailoring establishments. 
 
 There is one other thing I wanted to say in connection with these 
 earnings. Seven dollars and thirteen cents is about 35 cents higher 
 than the average shown for the department and other retail stores. 
 I think there should be taken into consideration with that the 
 faetfthat 80 per cent of the women employed in the department 
 stores snowed employment of from 48 to 52 weeks, whereas in the 
 mechanical and manufacturing only about 59 per cent showed so long 
 a duration of employment. That is, I think, pertinent to the matter. 
 
 The Chairman. Do I understand from that that the manufactur- 
 ing establishments showed so much more lost time ? 
 
 Miss OBENAtTER. Yes, there is much more lost time there. The effect 
 of the dull season in the manufacturing and mechanical industries in 
 ifashington is shown in the number of layoffs during the dull .season. 
 In the department stores that is not so noticeable. You find women 
 employed much longer during the year in the stores, and of course 
 the earnings have a direct bearing on that. Now I think the hours 
 for the manufacturing and mechanical have been covered. 
 
 In the matter of the hotels I should say that the distinguishing 
 feature is 7-dav labor. Seventy per cent of the women that were in- 
 terviewed were employed seven days of the week, though not always 
 the same hours. They have short days, sometimes two short days in 
 the week, but the distinguishing feature was the fact that they had 
 to be on duty seven days in the week. 
 
 The Chairman. What did you find to be the average number ot 
 hours for hotel employees ? . 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I will give you first the information we secured 
 from individuals, and then what the employers themselves gave us. 
 Let me say here, inasmuch as I called attention to reluctance on the 
 part of employers before, that there was no reluctance on the part ot 
 the hotel or restaurant men, any more than there was upon the part 
 of the department stores or manufacturing establishments. Ur the 
 women that we individually scheduled, those working under 48 hours 
 constituted about 22 per cent; those working 48 to o4 hours consti- 
 tuted about 20 per cent; from 55 to 59, 80 per cent. That is the 
 largest group. These are hours throughout the year, and not tor any 
 
 78634—13 7 
 
98 HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 one season. Those working 60 to 64 constitute 16 per cent ; 65to 69 
 hours 4 per cent, 70 hours and over— more definitely— TO to 72 hours, 
 4 per cent. In the table giving maximum hours there was a larger 
 percentage working the longer periods, 10 per cent reporting their 
 maximum hours as from 65 to 69. Mr. Chairman, I will leave this 
 table to be made part of the record if you so desire. .,..,, ,. . 
 
 The Chairman. Very well. Might I ask at this point it the dif- 
 ference in hours is due to the different kinds of work that women are 
 doing? . 
 
 Miss Obex aver. It is due to the different occupations. Ihe glass 
 washers, for instance, have a different set of hours from the other 
 workers. The linen clerks are longer on duty than any of the others, 
 but the demands on them are not so great. The cleaning women are 
 on the shortest number of hours, but they have nightwork, begin- 
 ning sometimes 2 vr 3 o'clock in the morning, and they are on duty 
 
 a longer time in the week 
 
 The Chairman. Hours that are inconvenient and unusual? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Is that table for the record ? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Let me see it. please. 
 
 Miss Obex auer (handing table to Mr. Rouse) . These are from indi- 
 viduals. This table is from the establishments; and I will say that 
 inasmuch as we could not put in one table the hours for all the differ- 
 ent occupations, we made this table to show the longest set of hours 
 required for any single group of people. If that is not the largest 
 group, then there is set forth in the footnote the hours for the largest 
 group. What we wanted to do was to mark the limit of demand on 
 employees. I have the average weekly hours here throughout the 
 year as reported by employees. For the first establishment it is 63 
 and 78. The figure 1 refers to the footnote stating that the two 
 figures represent alternate weeks. In the second establishment the 
 figures are 77 ; in the third. 69 and 71 ; in the fourth, 70 ; in the fifth, 
 70 ; in the sixth, 60 and 70 ; in the seventh, 60 arid 70 ; in the eighth, 
 70 ; in the ninth, 66£ ; in the tenth. 61 and 66 ; in the eleventh, 56 and 
 63 ; and in the twelfth, 30. The establishments represent about 382— 
 nearly 400 women altogether. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Do you give the names of the establishments on that table ? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. No ; we tell what kind of establishments they are, 
 but we do not give any names. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Then we can not tell anything about this table. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Those are only the individuals working in hotels 
 and restaurants, showing the average weekly hours of women at work 
 in restaurants, hotels, and miscellaneous places. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Is that for the record ? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I do not know whether we could put this in the 
 record or not. 
 
 The Chairman. Yes; I think you can. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. I will say that for the 50 women that we had indi- 
 vidually scheduled, in 64 per cent of the cases the women received 
 board and room in addition to the wage, and that should be carefully 
 noted, because the wage apparently is much lower. May I say also 
 that the hotels covered are the large down-town hotels ? They do not 
 cover the apartment houses out in the resident districts. I think 
 
HOTJES OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 99 
 
 perhaps I could save time if I just give you the main figures and put 
 this table in the record. 
 
 ! The Chairman. Yes; I think that would be preferable: 
 i Miss Obenauer. Of these 50 women there are 33 getting $3 to $3.99 a 
 week. Of the others there were two getting below that, and the others 
 scattered along from $8 to $8.99 per week. We had none getting over 
 $10 a week ; 64 per cent of them got both board and room ; 0.2 per cent 
 additional had meals, but no room ; that is, practically 70 per cent of 
 them got either meals or room or both in addition to the wage. 
 
 The Chairman. Among those who had rooms and board or board 
 alone are there any of those that are included in the higher rates in 
 your table ? You have some there who are receiving nearly $10. Are 
 those that are receiving that higher rate also getting board and room « 
 
 Miss OBENArER. Xo, sir; those that received $8 and $8.99 received 
 cash only. That is true of those receiving $7.99 ; they received cash 
 only. The table shows that. I think that is all I have to say. 
 
 The Chairman . There is one other point that I would like" to °-et 
 information about, if you have it, and that is as to the temperatures 
 in the laundries and in the kitchens of the hotels. Have you made 
 any investigations of that ? 
 
 Miss Obenatter. Not in the kitchens of the hotels. 
 
 Working hours of women employed in selected hotels, restaurants, and at 
 service tcnrl; in miscellaneous establishments of Washington, D. C, as re- 
 ported by employers. 
 
 [The longest hours worked by any set of women is given. Occasional overtime, occurring on special occa- 
 sions, as banquets, bails, etc., is not included in the tabulations.] 
 
 Estab- 
 lish- 
 ment 
 No. 
 
 Character. 
 
 Women 
 
 em- 
 ployed 
 
 Hotel 
 
 .-..do 
 
 ....do 
 
 do 
 
 Restaurant 
 
 do 
 
 Transportation 
 
 do 
 
 Restaurant 
 
 Hotel 
 
 do 
 
 Restaurant 
 
 Regular working hours throughout the year. 
 
 Hours 
 usual 
 day. 
 
 101 
 
 11 
 
 i 9 
 <11 
 
 10 
 '10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 91 
 
 <n 
 
 4 10§ 
 <5 
 < 12 
 5 
 
 Hours 
 short 
 day. 
 
 None. 
 
 None. 
 
 >None. 
 
 None. 
 None. 
 
 None. 
 
 None. 
 
 None. 
 None. 
 
 H 
 
 8 
 ^None. 
 None. 
 
 Hours 
 long 
 day. 
 
 Aver- 
 age 
 weekly 
 hours. 
 
 10 
 10 
 9i 
 
 io; 
 
 12 
 3 
 
 '63 
 
 178 
 
 77 
 
 l 69 
 
 171 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 860 
 
 "70 
 
 ■ 60 
 l 70 
 
 70 
 66.] 
 
 ■ 61 
 •66 
 156 
 
 Days 
 worked 
 
 per 
 week. 
 
 Nights 
 worked 
 
 per 
 week 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 86 
 
 87 
 
 ■6 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 None. 
 None. 
 
 •None. 
 
 VNone. 
 
 None. 
 None. 
 
 None. 
 
 I 13 
 
 None. 
 
 Maxi- 
 mum 
 weekly 
 hours. 
 
 63 
 30 
 
 Women 
 
 af- 
 fected. 
 
 22 
 
 = 7 
 56 
 
 8 1. 
 
 10 
 2 
 
 60 
 46 
 6 
 
 92 
 
 10 2 
 
 7 
 
 i Alternate weeks. 
 
 2 24, the largest group of women employed, have an average week of 54 hours, with a maximum week of 
 'i hours occurring every sixth week. 
 
 3 27, the largest group of women employed, have an average week of 56 hours, with a maximum week of 
 hours occurring every fourth week. 
 
 1 Alternate days. 
 
 s 32, the largest group of women employed, have an average week of 60 hours, with a maximum week of 
 
 hours every fourth week. 
 
 '8, the largest group of women employed, have an average week of 66J hours, with a shorter week of 63 
 
 Urs every fourth week. 
 
 1 Every tenth week have a 6J-hour day, or a 45J-hour week. 
 
 1 Bave every tenth day off. 
 
 1 15, the largest group of women employed, have an average week of 50J hours, with a maximum week of 
 
 > hours. 
 
 10, the largest group of women employed, have an average week of 53 hours, with a maximum week of 
 
 hours. 
 
100 HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.. 
 
 Women earning specified weekly amounts and number in each wage group re- 
 ceiving board or room or both, in addition to specified wage. 
 
 - 
 
 $2 to 
 $2.99 
 
 $3 to 
 $3.99 
 
 $4 to 
 $4.99 
 
 $5 to 
 $5.99 
 
 $6 to 
 $6.99 
 
 $7 to 
 $7.99 
 
 $8 to 
 $9.99 
 
 Total 
 number. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Number receiving 
 specified cash, 
 amounts 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 '48 
 
 100.0 
 
 Number receiving 
 board and room in 
 addition to wage 
 
 Number receiving one 
 or more meais only in 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 64.6 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 6.2 
 
 Receiving cash earn- 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 29.2 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 •48 
 
 100.0 
 
 
 
 i Two of the women individually scheduled did not report earnings. 
 
 Average and maximum weekly hours of women at work, in hotels, restaurants, 
 and miscellaneous establishments. 
 
 
 Women working specified weekly hours. 
 
 Weekly hours. 
 
 Total 
 women 
 report- 
 ing. 
 
 Under 48. 
 
 48 to 54. 
 
 55 to 59. 
 
 60 to 64. 
 
 65 to 69. 
 
 70 and over. 
 
 
 No. 
 
 Per 
 cent. 
 
 No. 
 
 Per 
 cent. 
 
 No. 
 
 Pei- 
 cent. 
 
 No. 
 
 Per 
 cent. 
 
 16 
 16 
 
 No. 
 
 Per 
 cent. 
 
 No. 
 
 Per 
 cent. 
 
 Average weekly 
 
 50 
 50 
 
 11 
 11 
 
 22 
 22 
 
 10 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 30 
 32 
 
 18 
 8 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 4 
 10 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 Maximum 
 weekly hours.. 
 
 8 
 
 We have just completed a rather exhaustive study of the occupa- 
 tional demands upon women in steam laundries. In order that I 
 may not make any remarks that are not pertinent to your investiga- 
 tion, I would like to ask, Mr. Chairman, whether the young woman 
 who testified before the committee the other day as to the machine 
 she was operating was describing a machine of the annihilator or 
 trojan type? I think Mr. Sowers could tell that. Was it of the 
 annihilator type? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes; it was. 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. In this study that we made in regard to occu- 
 pational demands of steam laundries, it was our purpose not to go 
 mto the conditions of the workers at all, but to find out just what 
 the measure of the demands of the various occupations were upon 
 women. For instance, if a girl was operating a foot-treadle ma- 
 chine we did not have the agents attempt to run that machine and 
 report as whether or not it was a light-running machine, but we 
 had a scale made with an automatic measuring device ; we put the 
 scale on the machine to measure the force needed to operate the 
 treadle. Then, when the work was running along in the ordinary 
 level, the number of operations per minute were counted and re- 
 corded. We had a whirling hygrometer to take the temperature 
 and humidity in the working place of the operator. Now, the reason 
 I ask about the character of the machine described by the witness 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 101 
 
 before this committee is this : There is a great deal of difference in 
 the temperature of the flat work ironers as shown by our records. 
 * The annihilator, which the young woman who testified here was 
 evidently running, had a pretty high temperature record if, in the 
 establishment we visited, it was not properly equipped with an 
 "exhaust system. We took our records between the 27 th of March 
 and the 16th of April in the city of Milwaukee, Wis., where they 
 have some_31 laundries. The highest outdoor temperature at any 
 time was 75 degrees. We never took any temperatures inside that, 
 we did not take them at the same time outside, in order to distin- 
 guish between conditions chargeable to the industry and those charge- 
 able to the weather. We did not wish to load all the sins of the 
 weather man onto the laundryman. There were eight annihilators 
 'in the city of Milwaukee for which we had temperature records. 
 For those not equipped with an exhaust system the temperature 
 ranged from 69 to 94, the temperature outside at the same time 
 being 75. That was the highest temperature that we had outside. 
 At the same time we took the temperatures about annihilators where 
 there was an exhaust system, and the highest record we had there 
 was 76. 
 
 The Chairman. With the same temperature outside? 
 
 Miss Obenauer. The temperature outside at that time was 46. 
 The exhaust system makes a good deal of difference, although we 
 have had cases where an exhaust system apparently failed. There 
 were two machines of great radiating power close together, the op- 
 erator of one machine getting the heat of the other machine because 
 the exhaust system drew the heat away from one onto the operators 
 of another. Consequently, although the rooms were adequately 
 equipped with exhaust systems, the machines were badly placed and 
 the operators were working in high degrees of temperature. I 
 should say that these annihilators call for no occupational demand 
 in the way of physical exertion. It is a machine driven by steam. 
 It is, however, a dangerous machine if not properly guarded, because 
 the hands of the operator may be caught in the rolls. 
 
 The Chairman. Have you found generally that they are properly 
 guarded, or have you made any investigation ? 
 
 Miss OBENAr er. No, not here in the city ; but the accidents on these 
 annihilators are so serious when they do occur that it is in the inter- 
 ests of the employer to keep them pretty well guarded. Accidents 
 on flat-work ironers are generally very bad accidents. Do you have 
 the automatic stop guards on your machines, Mr. Sowers? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes. 
 
 Miss Obenaler. What I mean by the automatic stop guard is a 
 device so placed that if the operator moves it toward the roller the 
 machine automatically stops. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I can say that that is universally used here. 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Do you have the doffer roll ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes. 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. The real strain in the laundry comes upon the 
 operators of foot-treadle machines. In testing these machines with 
 our scale we found that they registered 100 pounds or oyer. That 
 was a frequent record on the cuff-press machine. This is a device 
 upon which the girl puts the cuff or the yoke of the shirt and then 
 brings down the upper press by foot pressure. We found that in 
 
102 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 most cases the girls adjusted the tension of the machine themselves, 
 and were under the impression that the tighter they made it the bet- 
 ter finish they got on the garment and the less time it took. I 
 will say that the laundrymen in Milwaukee were very helpful 
 about this study, not only allowing us to make our investigations, 
 but helping us in it. They were very much surprised when we put 
 the scale to the machine to see how much pressure was being used in 
 the operation. After the study was over we went back and made 
 other tests, and the laundrymen themselves readjusted the machines 
 and found that 50 pounds on the whole was all that was needed, ex- 
 cept for unusually thick material. The highest amount of pressure 
 that was needed was 72 pounds. You can realize what it means to 
 take off that much pressure for each operation in a 10-hour day, 
 with a machine calling for 16 operations per minute. It was not 
 only a saving of the energy of the operator, but it was likewise a 
 saving to the padding on the machine and the machine itself. After 
 we got these records completed we submitted them to a committee 
 of physicians. We stated exactly how many operations per minute 
 the foot-treadle machines required, taking the body ironers and cuff- 
 press machines as examples and giving the prevailing temperatures 
 in which the girls worked. Then we asked what would be the ten- 
 dencies of such labor on a young woman of average health, 21 years 
 old and unmarried. 
 
 Our purpose was not to find out what it would do to the anemic 
 and run-down. It has been my observation that most people 
 employed in laundries were not exceptional one way or the other, 
 and the thing that would be important would be the tendency that 
 would be created in the average, because if it would have an injuri- 
 ous effect on the average young woman, it would certainly have a 
 worse effect on those that were below the average. Dr. Eavenel, 
 who is connected with the University of AVisconsin, was on this 
 committee, and his statement I will read, if you wish it, with that 
 of the other physicians. 
 
 The Chairman. Yes ; we would like to have it. 
 
 Miss Obenauer (reading) : 
 
 I would expect such work to be detrimental to the health of a young woman. 
 It would almost certainly produce some distortion of the spine with one-sided 
 development of the body. 
 
 The opinions of Dr. Copeland and of Dr. William Thorndike. 
 both of Milwaukee, were practically identical, viz: If long contin- 
 ued the operation of such machines would have a strong tendency 
 to create pelvic disorders. We did not ask opinions of workers at 
 all, because we did not feel that they were competent to judge 
 whether the work was harmful or not, because the pathological 
 results are slow and devious. In justice to the laundry industry, I 
 should say that of the 552 women individually scheduled in Milwau- 
 kee only a few over a hundred were running the foot-treadle machine. 
 The others were running machines that made no excessive or excep- 
 tional demands at all, and should not be, and would not be, rated as 
 doing excessive labor if the sanitary conditions are all right. Every- 
 thing depends, of course, on the efficiency of management, and I 
 will say for the benefit of the laundrymen here, that the foot-treadle 
 machines are probably responsible more than anything else for giv- 
 
HOUKS OF LABOE FOR WOMEN 1ST THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 103 
 
 ing the laundry industry the name of being an exceptionally hard 
 employment. 
 
 1 The Chairman. Are those facts which you have stated here the 
 result of an investigation in the city of Milwaukee ? 
 
 Miss Obenatter. Yes. 
 '" The Chairman . Have you made any investigation in the city 
 of Washington? 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. Not of the character of machines. May I say 
 that we made a study of the question in Milwaukee, with the idea 
 of extracting from the local conditions those facts which are com- 
 mon to the industry all over the country. "We went from the laun- 
 dries in Milwaukee to the foundries to see what kind of machines 
 are being made, and sent all over the country in order that we might 
 know what results would be likely to be produced anywhere in the 
 industry. The results of the investigation of local conditions would 
 be of value in other parts of the country where similar conditions 
 prevailed. 
 
 The Chairman. In making your investigation relative to temper- 
 ature, did you make investigation at different periods during the 
 day? For instance, during the time when they were utilizing natu- 
 ral light, and during the time they were utilizing artificial light, did 
 you note the effect that the artificial light had on the temperature ? 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. In Milwaukee they have a 55-hour law, and we 
 found practically no overtime there at all. We found some rather 
 poorly lighted establishments, particularly in the wash rooms, where 
 the humidity was higher than in other work rooms — in some cases 
 on a dark day they would need artificial light, but as the days on 
 which we were in such establishments were clear they were not using 
 the artificial light, so we have no record of the effect of such light 
 on the temperature. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In comparing the statistics regarding the different 
 institutions in Washington did the bureau compare statistics cover- 
 ing domestics and employees of hospitals ? 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. No. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In comparing these statistics, also, did you investigate 
 the temperature and conditions of Chinese laundries? 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. I should say that this information applies only 
 to steam laundries, and I believe that the foundry men sell no steam 
 laundry machinery to the Chinese laundries at all, do they? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes ; they do. 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. We have no information about the Chinese laun- 
 dries, nor hand laundries. 
 
 Mr. Sowers I asked that question in view of the fact that the 
 Chinese laundry is the hottest in the country, and they work the 
 longest hours. 
 
 ' Miss Obenatjer. Our investigation has only to do with conditions 
 under which women labor. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. The Chinese laundries employ domestics to do a 
 certain part of their work. They employ colored women. 
 
 Miss Obenatjer. They did not have them in the places that we 
 investigated. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You will find it so in Washington. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. By request I wish to submit a petition handed me 
 by the president of the Ladies' Tailors and Dressmakers Associa- 
 
104 HOURS OF LABOH FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 tion of America, Washington branch; and also a petition of the em- 
 ployees of the Ladies' Tailors Association of Washington. Then 
 I would like to introduce Mr. Archibald McSween. 
 
 Petition from the Ladies' Tailohs and Dressmakers Association. 
 
 I 'IL'Udnuarters the Ladies' Tailors and Dressmakers Association of America Branch No. 3, 
 Washington, D. C, 802 Fourteenth St. X. WM 
 
 To the Committee im Labor of the House of Representatives, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Gentlemen: The Ladies' Tailors and Dressmakers Association of Washing- 
 ton, D. C, wish to enter protest against the proposed law for the elimination 
 of female labor to eight hours per day, as it will ultimately work a hardship 
 on both employers and employees. 
 
 The women employed in the ladies' tailoring and dressmaking industries are 
 largely dependent upon the money they earn from extra work they perform 
 during the busy season, as they are subject to very short seasons and long 
 enforced vacations, and to take a part of their means of livelihood from them 
 would be an injustice to them and to us. On the other hand, as we are very 
 often called upon to produce garments on very short notice and by the use of 
 skilled labor, which is not overly plentiful in this city, which makes it im- 
 possible to make other distribution of our employees or to introduce " shift 
 work." 
 
 In view of the above reasons we recommend that the female employees of the 
 ladies' tailoring and dressmaking establishments be excepted from the provi- 
 sions of the proposed law. 
 
 Respectfully submitted. 
 
 Robert Pluym, president; William S. Schwartz, vice president; 
 F. C. Chorley, secretary; Adolf Bode, financial secretary: E. W. 
 Zea, treasurer; Paul Leibel; K. Schwab; Henry Mtiller; A. W. 
 Lukei : X. Del Grosso ; H. Pasternak. 
 
 Petition from Employees of the Ladies' Tailoring and Dressmaking 
 
 Establishments. 
 
 To the Committee on Labor, House of Representatives: 
 
 We, the employees of the ladies' tailoring and dressmaking establishments 
 of the city of Washington, D. C, protest against the enactment of the Peters 
 bill now pending in Congress, into law, for the reason that we are largely 
 dependent on the money we earn from overtime work. 
 
 The seasons in our business are very short, and our vacations are correspond- 
 ingly long, and as we have no other method of obtaining funds to carry us. 
 over the periods of unemployment we are desirous of accepting such extra 
 work as may come to us, which would be prohibited under such law. 
 Respectfully submitted. 
 
 M. R. Cinotti; M. G. Cattaliano; Lulu Reeves; A. Schmidt; Elsie 
 Blair; Ruth Colburn ; Bertha Dewdmy. 914 F Street; K. Schwab, 
 SOI Eleventh Street, 914 New York Avenue: Benjamin Shapiro; 
 H. Pasternak; M. Hayes; Mrs. Phillips; J. Jennie Friedner; 
 Fredy Fredmin; E. W. Zea, Myra Thompson, E. Rollins, 1017 
 Fifteenth Street ; H. Miiller, M. Moore, R. Heling, M. McMullen, 
 Elizabeth Werner, 1111 Seventeenth Street; G. M. Norton, 1216 
 Connecticut Avenue; V. Schutz. 1752 M Street; Lukei, 1720 M 
 Street: S. L. Searight, Seventeenth Street; B. L. Godwin; A. 
 Roth, Miss Carper, Marie Smith, 1234 Fourteenth Street. 
 
 STATEMENT OF .ARCHIBALD McSWEEN, SUPERINTENDENT OF 
 THE NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO., WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 The Chairman. You may proceed, Mr. McSween. 
 Mr. McSween. Our office is a union office. We have always had 
 an 8-hour day, and we employ a good many women in our bindery, 
 
HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 105 
 
 but our business is of such a nature that we can not always stop at 
 8 hours. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How many people do you employ? 
 
 Mr. McSween. Anywhere from 6 to 20. It is small in comparison 
 with the other industries, but our business is of such a character that 
 we could not employ women if we were not allowed to work more 
 than 8 hours. For instance, we are under contract to furnish pro- 
 grams for a theater. The copy is late, and we have got to get those 
 programs out for Monday night. Now, we could not do that if we 
 had a force that would have to stop after exactly 8 hours. We have 
 to have some elasticity so that if we are a little late we can work an 
 extra hour or an hour and a half overtime. It is. the same way 
 with publications. We might be under a contract to put a publica- 
 tion out on a certain day, and we might have to work three or four 
 hours overtime, and such a law as this would result in the elimination 
 of women employees altogether. We would have to have men and 
 boys only in our business. Our labor is skilled labor in a way, but 
 boys and men can easily be trained to do it. I think that is about 
 the main point that I wish to bring up, that we could not work with 
 a force of that kind. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What percentage of your employees are ladies ? 
 
 Mr. McSween. I suppose not more than 10 per cent. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Mr. Hebbard, representing the merchant tailors 
 of this city, will be our next speaker. 
 
 The Chairmak. Mr. Hebbard is recognized. 
 
 STATEMENT OF GEORGE E. HEBBARD, REPRESENTING .THE RE. 
 TAIL MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON, AND THE 
 MERCHANT TAILORS' EXCHANGE OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Mr. Chairman, a great deal has been said as to what 
 is considered sufficient pay, adequate pay, maximum and minimum 
 pay, for females in the District of Columbia. Also, the Labor 
 Bureau has submitted several statements and records of their office 
 on the manufacturing and industrial industries in the District of 
 Columbia. Upon inquiry, I found that they have no record of the 
 largest plant, and the only place in the District of Columbia that in 
 any way resembles a factory, where they employ over 1,900 females, 
 one-half of which work at night from 3.30 to 11.30 p. m., and this 
 institution is in competition with other industries. 
 , The Chairman. What institution is that? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing. I have 
 here a statement from Mr. Kalph, Director of the Bureau of En- 
 graving and Printing, which I will read [reading] : 
 
 February 7, 1913. 
 Mr. Geobge E. Hebbard, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Sir: In reply to your letter of the 7th instant, requesting information relative 
 to female employees of this bureau, I desire to state that they work eight hours 
 a day, and the minimum and maximum wages of about 1,900 of them are $1.50 
 and $2.24 per day. There are a few, however, that are paid higher salaries, 
 from $2.31 a day to $2,100 per year. Whenever occasion demands, they will- 
 ingly work overtime, the pay for overtime being one-eighth of a regular day's 
 pay for each hour of overtime worked. The employees at minimum wages 
 have asked to have their wages increased, and the Secretary of the Treasury 
 
106 HOUBS OF LABOE FOB WOMEN 1ST THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 has recommended it to be increased to $1.75 per day, which is now being con- 
 sidered by the House committee having charge of the sundry civil appropria- 
 tion act. 
 
 All employees of this bureau are granted, with pay, leave of absence for 30 
 days, all the legal holidays, and Saturday half-holidays in July, August, and 
 September. 
 
 Respectfully, J. E. Ralph, 
 
 Director. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Is that a national organization? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. It is the only place in Washington resembling a 
 factory, having, as shown by the record, 1,900 females employed. 
 Mr. Kalph's report says they are allowed to work overtime, for 
 which they are paid one-eighth of a day's pay per hour. The con- 
 tention we make is that they are allowed to work overtime. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Is that a violation of the law ? 
 
 The Chairman. If it is an emergency it is not a violation of the 
 law. The law provides for emergency conditions in which they may 
 work overtime. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. That is exactly the point. We are asking for emer- 
 gency conditions. 
 
 The Chairman. The law relative to contract work provides for 
 emergencies and also provides that the President shall have the power 
 to declare what constitutes an emergency. Would you like to have 
 a provision of that kind in this bill ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Yes. Every time we have submitted that it has been 
 opposed by the trade secretaries. We offered that amendment in the 
 Senate, and just as soon as we offered it Miss Kelley knocked it out. 
 
 The Chairman. Did your amendment provide that the President 
 of the United States should decide when an emergency existed ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. How can the President provide for an emergency in 
 the tailoring business? 
 
 The Chairman. Whom do you want to determine what consti- 
 tutes an emergency? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I think this committee is able to frame this law 
 themselves. I think they are perfectly capable of doing that. 
 
 The Chairman. You are here, as I understand it, for the purpose 
 of advising the committee as to what is best to be done under the 
 circumstances; otherwise there would be no need for the hearings. 
 Whom, in your judgment, is the person who ought to be intrusted 
 with authority of determining when an emergency arises ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I think the employer should have something to sav 
 about an emergency in regard to his own business. The Bureau of 
 Labor has shown that in the manufacturing industries just about 
 half the year we are busy. There is only 59 per cent of the year that 
 we are busy, and the other 41 per cent of the time is the off season 
 with us. Now, I would like to submit, as secretary of the Merchant 
 Tailors' Exchange, a list of prices in neighboring cities with which 
 the tailors in Washington have to compete. I have some prices here 
 that I would like to put in the record. The proposition I make is 
 that if we get as strict a law in regard to overtime as this it will 
 result m detriment to the female emplovees in Washington and to 
 the employers also. 
 
 The Chairman. Does your table show that the rates of pay are 
 higher here than they are in competing towns? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Yes, sir. 
 
HOUKS OP LABOK FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 107 
 
 The Chairman. Do you want to put in the record that patrons of 
 your industry would be induced to go to other towns under these 
 conditions ? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. They would go; yes. I can take my stuff by par- 
 cels post and have it made in other places to better advantage than I 
 could here. 
 
 The Chairman. If there is no objection it can be put in the record 
 at this time. 
 
 The tables referred to are as follows : 
 
 In the merchant-tailoring trade in Washington, D. C, prices for making only, 
 to the best of my knowledge, are as follows : • ' 
 
 Coats, sack $5. 00-$8. 00 
 
 Overcoats 7.00-14.00 
 
 Cutaways 6. 00-12. 00 
 
 Double-breasted frock g 00-14 00 
 
 Full dress ~~_~__1 12.' 00-15.' 00 
 
 Waistcoats 1. 25- 2 50 
 
 Trousers !. oo_ 2 . 50 
 
 Above prices are subject to extras. 
 
 [The Baltimore Cut, Trim & Make Co., 409 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Md 
 sive designers, trimmers, and makers for merchant tailors.] 
 
 rf Price List. 
 
 Cutting, trimming, aiid malting. 
 
 Exclu- 
 
 Grade. 
 
 Coats and 
 trousers, 
 
 S. B. 
 
 sack. 
 
 Suits, 
 S. B. 
 sacks. 
 
 Coats, 
 S. B. 
 sacks. 
 
 Vests, 
 S. B. 
 
 Trousers. 
 
 Over- 
 coats, 
 S. B. 
 plain. 
 
 1 
 
 $6.00 
 7.00 
 8.00 
 9.00 
 
 10.00 
 
 $7.00 
 
 8.00 
 
 9.60 
 
 10.50 
 
 12.00 
 
 $4.50 
 5.50 
 6.50 
 7.50 
 8.50 
 
 $1.25 
 1.50 
 1.75 
 2.00 
 2.50 
 
 SI. 50 
 1.75 
 2.00 
 2.50 
 3.00 
 
 $7.00 
 8.00 
 9.50 
 
 10. 
 
 12.00 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 Extra charges on coats for cutting, trimming, and making. 
 
 Single-breasted Prince Albert or clerical frock $2.00 
 
 Double-breasted Prince Albert (silk or satin faced, $3.50), plain 2. 50 
 
 English walking coat or cutaway frock 2. 00 
 
 ruxedo (silk lined and face, $6; silk faced, $3.50), plain 1.50 
 
 Full-dress coats (silk lined and faced, $6.50; silk faced, ,*">), plain____. 3. 50 
 
 fry-on above styles 1.00 
 
 Vorfolk coats 1. 50 
 
 Silk-lined sack coat 3. 50 
 
 Silk-lined Prince Albert, English walking, clerical, or frock coats 5.00 
 
 Skeleton coat, one-quarter lined (one-quarter lined with silk, $2; one-half 
 
 lined, no extra) 1.00 
 
 'atch pockets on coats . 50 
 
 3uff sleeves (not our fashion, 25 cents) No charge. 
 
 lalf-and-half binding on coat and vest 2. 00 
 
 Jest flat silk braid on coat and vest 3.50 
 
 )ouble-breasted sack coats .50 
 
 'ry-on sack coats .50 
 
108 HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Extra charges on vests. 
 
 Double-breasted vest $0. 25 
 
 Full-dress or cossack clerical vests . 50 
 
 Silk back in vest 1-00 
 
 Silk cord on vest .25 
 
 Patch pockets on vest .25 
 
 Panel vest . 50 
 
 Try-on vest . 25 
 
 Extra charges on trousers. 
 
 Belt of same material $0. 25 
 
 Cuff bottom — No charge. 
 
 Half-lined trousers (full lined, 50 cents) .25 
 
 Spring buckles, each .10 
 
 Riding trousers 4.00 
 
 Reenforeeil seat in trousers .50 
 
 Broad fall trousers (without fly bottom on side) 1.00 
 
 Braid on trousers (silk, $1.50), mohair 1.00 
 
 Extra charges on overcoats. 
 
 Double-breasted overcoats $1.50 
 
 Double-breasted storm overcoats 2.00 
 
 Single-breasted automobile overcoat (double breasted, $2.50) 1.50 
 
 Single-breasted raglan, paddock, or paletot overcoats (double breasted, 
 
 $3.50) 2. 50 
 
 Overcoat (silk facing to edge, $3; full silk lined to facing, $5), full silk 
 
 lined and facing to edge 7.00 
 
 Silk or satin yoke in overcoat 2.00 
 
 Satin sleeve lining in overcoat . 1.00 
 
 Velvet collar. " Best " 1. 00 
 
 Convertible collar on overcoat 2.00 
 
 Try-on overcoat .75 
 
 Waterproofing (eravenette) suit or overcoat 1.00 
 
 Sponging overcoat, suit, or any part of suit .10 
 
 Making and trimming only. 
 
 For making and trimming apply the prices for cutting, trimming, and mak- 
 ing, except we allow you for cutting as follows : 
 
 Coats and trousers $0.40 
 
 Suits .50 
 
 Coats . 25 
 
 Vests . io 
 
 Trousers . 15 
 
 Overcoats _ 50 
 
 Making only. 
 
 (It is understood that you furnish all trimmings; any trimmings short will 
 be charged for.) 
 
 Grade. 
 
 Coats, 
 S. B. 
 sacks. 
 
 Vests, 
 S. B. 
 
 Trousers. 
 
 Over- 
 coats, 
 S. B., 
 plain. 
 
 1 
 
 $3.00 
 4.00 
 5.00 
 6.00 
 7.50 
 
 $1.00 
 1.25 
 1.50 
 1.75 
 2.00 
 
 $1.25 
 1.50 
 1.75 
 2.00 
 2.50 
 
 $4.50 
 5.50 
 6.50 
 7.50 
 9.00 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 109 
 
 Extra charges on coats for making only. 
 
 Single-breasted Prince Albert, clerical frocks 
 
 English walking coats or cutaway frocks , $1. 50 
 
 Double-breasted Prince Alberts Z 2.00 
 
 Tuxedo 1,50 
 
 Full dress 3.XX) 
 
 Try on above styles 1.00 
 
 Norfolk coat 1. 50 
 
 Skeleton coat, one-fourth lined 1. 00 
 
 Patch pockets on coat . 50 
 
 Cuff sleeves (special design, not our fashion, 25 cents) No charge 
 
 Double-breasted sack coat .50 
 
 Try on sack coats .50 
 
 Extra charges on vests for making only. 
 
 Double-breasted $0. 2.5 
 
 Full dress or cossack clerical . 50 
 
 Patch pockets on vest . 25 
 
 Panel vests . 50 
 
 Try on vests . 25 
 
 Extra charges on trousers for making only. 
 
 Belt of same material $0. 25 
 
 Cuff bottoms No charge 
 
 Riding trousers 4. 00 
 
 Reenforced seat . 25 
 
 Broad fall trousers (without fly-button side) 1.00 
 
 Braid on trousers . 50 
 
 Extra, charges on overcoats for making only. 
 
 Double-breasted $1.00 
 
 Double-breasted storm overcoat 1.50 
 
 Single-breasted automobile (double-breasted, $1.50) 1.00 
 
 Single-breasted raglan, paddock, or paletot (double-breasted, $2.50) 2.00 
 
 Silk or satin yoke in overcoat 1. 00 
 
 Convertible collar on overcoat 2.00 
 
 Velvet collar - . 50 
 
 Try on overcoat .75 
 
 Proportional charges will be made for other extras not provided for in this 
 list when additional material and labor is required. 
 
 Notice. — Clergymen's frocks, single and double breasted Prince Alberts, full 
 dress, tuxedos, English walking coats, cutaway frocks, and white vests are 
 not made in grade 1. 
 
 Terms. — All orders are C. O. D., unless accompanied by check, as our services 
 consist principally of labor. 
 
 Dealers pay express on shipments to and from us. 
 
 Other Baltimore prices are : 
 
 Trousers as low as___^ $0. 60 and $0. 65 
 
 Waistcoats as low as ■ 19 and . 65 
 
 Coats as low as 1- 50 
 
 These prices, I have been told, have been paid by some of the tailor shops in 
 Washington that have their work manufactured in Baltimore. 
 
 OUR FACILITIES. 
 
 Our equipment for cut. trim, and make is the most complete and largest plant 
 of its kind in the Bast. 
 
 Our workmen are skilled at their work, which not only insures the best or 
 workmanship, but dispatches the work, which enables us to give extraordinary 
 quick deliveries. 
 
110 I-10UBS OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 APPLYING OUR SERVICES. 
 
 Our various grades of work enable the merchant tailor to apply the class 
 of work on order that is required for an even balanced garment of material 
 and workmanship, which is to the best interest of each concerned. 
 
 Each grade is the best in every respect that can be produced at the price 
 named, and our system of working is constantly probed for lost motions to 
 protect our trade, that they get the best workmanship that can be produced in 
 
 Grade i. — Made with imitation hand buttonholes and is carefully cut, 
 trimmed, and made in a substantial manner. 
 
 Oracle 2 — Carefully drafted, durable trimmings, and we furnish better 
 workmanship than is customary at that price. 
 
 Grade 3.— This seems to be the most popular class, and each detail of order 
 is cared for in the strictest manner, and the improvements in workmanship 
 and trimming are, of course, in accordance with the difference in price. 
 
 Grade .';. — The workmanship and trimming used on this class corresponds 
 with the merchant tailors' $30 to $45 suits. 
 
 Grade 5. — This, the highest class, commands the best quality trimmings and 
 workmanship, and equals a merchant tailor's $50 to $65 suit. It is the favorite 
 c-lass for fine semidress and dress suits and fine overcoats. 
 
 We use the best linings for the given price, either serge, mohair, or Venetian. 
 
 Mr. Hebbaed. Now, Mr. Chairman, I will add to this report the 
 statement of Mr. Ralph to me, that 800 of these employees in 
 the Bureau of Engraving and Printing get only $1.50 per day, for 
 which an increase has been requested. In submitting this, I ask that 
 the merchants of Washington be given the same privileges as to 
 overtime as are pursued in the Government departments in emer- 
 gencies, as this statement shows. 
 
 I will lay particular stress on the seasons in the merchant tailor- 
 ing business here, as has been shown by the previous witnesses that 
 have appeared before you. 
 
 The question as to overcoming quick orders, as shown, necessitates 
 overtime in emergencies for the merchant tailor. His customers have 
 redress in a ready-made garment or from a tailor having his waist- 
 coats, etc., made in a distant city. Washington has a number of such 
 tailors. This means a loss of trade to the Washington merchant and 
 his employees less work. These garments — the ready-made — of 
 course are made in a distant city; there is no ta ready-made factory 
 in this city. 
 
 As to the conditions in the ready-made shops, you know as well as 
 I do that time, etc., are generally regulated by unions. As said be- 
 fore, Washington is a peculiar city, and seasons are very short — the 
 summer months extremely dull — where in a manufacturing city the 
 summer months are the busy ones. 
 
 In concluding, Mr. Chairman, I will state that as far as I can see 
 there is no demand for such a strict law as the advocates would 
 make you believe and which they have not shown. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, now, as the burden of proof is upon them, ask that 
 they bring in some of these overworked females, as they assume to 
 speak for, and have advocated these changes, and prove the needs of 
 such a drastic measure ; and if there are such conditions, as the advo- 
 cates would make you believe exists, remedy them, but do not put 
 the burden of a few on all the merchants and employees. So far they 
 have only presented one witness. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Ill 
 
 The workshops, laundries, and stores are open to your inspection, 
 and your committee or the ladies advocating this measure are at 
 liberty to summon any employee they desire to, and I can assure you 
 this can be done without any fear of pensure from an employer, 
 This is a matter which concerns the wage earner more than the em- 
 ployer. Regulate the hours for a day's work and a week's work, but 
 allow the privilege of overtime as now exercised by the male em- 
 ployees and in the Government departments where females are 
 employed. 
 
 Now, Mr. Chairman, as this is supposed to be a humanitarian 
 movement, why not include domestics, whose work is never done; 
 hospital nurses, who work from 12 to 18 hours ; female employees in 
 newspaper offices, of which there are a number in this city. 
 
 In concluding, Mr. Chairman, I wish to submit a few lists of prices 
 paid for tailoring, and ask that you give them careful consideration ; 
 and in framing this bill do not increase our burden and drive more 
 work out of the city, but allow us to meet competition fairly and give 
 the female employees a chance for overtime as asked for ; also reason- 
 able hours. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Mr. Sowers would like to give some information to 
 the committee in regard to laundry prices. 
 
 The Chairman. Mr. Sowers, I believe you have filed with us a 
 statement to go into the record? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. That was with regard to my own prices, but I wish 
 to give this information for the benefit of Mr. Howard, who made 
 the statement that prices are higher here than in Atlanta, his own 
 town. I have since received some information from one of the 
 laundries in Atlanta, and I have price lists showing the prices that 
 they charge. This is the Capital City Laundry 
 
 Mr. Howard (interposing). That laundry does the club work out 
 there, at high prices. That is not a poor man's laundry. I know all 
 about that. That is one of those exclusive laundries. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. They have a great many exclusive laundries in At- 
 lanta from what I understand. I have a letter here from this laun- 
 dryman in answer to a telegram. The letter is addressed to Mr. 
 Killian and is as follows [reading] : 
 
 Capital Oity Laundry Co., 
 Atlanta, Oa., February 8, ID1J. 
 Mr. F. V. Killian, 
 
 Franklin Laundry, Washington, D. C. 
 
 My Dear Mr. Killian : Replying to your wire of this date, I am inclosing 
 you flat and starch work price list, which are in effect in Atlanta, and are the 
 same list as used by all other laundries in this city except two. We are pretty 
 well together on the house-hold flat work and starch work, as you can see, 
 but there is still quite a difference in prices of hotel work. I would say that 
 tne average rate for hotel work would be about 60 cents per hundred. I think 
 there are some that are down as low as 50 cents, and there are some that run to 
 probably 75 cents. However, there are only one or two of the latter, and they 
 are the smaller hotels. . . 
 
 Trusting that business is good with you, and that you are enjoying good 
 health, I am with kind regards, 
 
 Very truly, yours, Geo. H. Fauss, 
 
112 HOURS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IX THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 CAPITAL CITY LAUNDRY CO. 
 
 [128-130-132 Whitehall Slreel. Geo. H. Fauss, president and manager. Both phones 1060. "One-O- 
 
 Five-O." 
 
 Five-O.' 
 
 Marker, 
 
 Drivers are not allowed to extend credit. 
 
 Amount ol this pkge, Balance . : Total . 
 
 Shirts, plain (without curls) 12}e 
 
 Shirts, plaited, cuffs attached, or 
 
 stiff-bosom open-front 12$c 
 
 Pajamas 20c 
 
 Night shirts 10c 
 
 Undershirts 8c 
 
 Drawers 8c 
 
 Union suits 15c 
 
 Socks, per pair 5c 
 
 Handkerchiefs 3c 
 
 Handkerchiefs, silk 5c 
 
 Collars 2Jc 
 
 Cuffs, per pair 5c 
 
 Ties 5c 
 
 Coats (waiters) 10c 
 
 Aprons (waiters) 5c 
 
 Vests 20c 
 
 Shirtwaists 15c up 
 
 Top skirts 35-50C 
 
 Underskirts 25c up 
 
 Night gowns 15c up 
 
 Corset covers 10c up 
 
 Ladies' belts 5c 
 
 St oe kings 5c 
 
 Aprons, ladies' 10c up 
 
 Not responsible for loss of goods by fire. 
 
 Send us your count. If you do not, our count must be accepted. 
 
 Three days' time required on all work, unless otherwise agreed upon. Goods left over 30 days will be 
 Bold for charges. 
 
 i Claims for shortage must be made within 24 hours and accompanied by original list. 
 Not responsible for valuables of any kind left in garments, or loss of goods by fire. 
 
 Bill rendered, Total , 
 
 FLAT-WORK LIST CAPITAL CITY LAUNDRY CO. 
 
 128-130-132 Whitehall Street. Geo. H. Faus?, President and Manager. Both phones 1050. 
 
 Fivc-O.'] 
 
 Marker Assortcr, Checker 
 
 Amt. of this pkge, Balance Total 
 
 Drivers are not allowed to extend credit. 
 
 'One-0 
 
 Customer's count. 
 
 Laundry's count. 
 
 
 Price. 
 
 
 
 Sheets 
 
 Pillowcases 
 
 Spreads , plain 
 
 3c 
 
 2c 
 
 10c 
 
 lc 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lc 
 
 
 
 
 
 2c 
 
 
 
 
 Napkins 
 
 Tablecloths 
 
 Table felts 
 
 .... lc. 
 
 5c 
 
 . .. 5c 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Table tops 
 
 Spreads (fringed or colored) 
 
 .... Jc 
 
 4C 
 
 15c 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *< 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Single packages amounting to $1.00, 20 p 
 Single packages amounting to SI. 50, 25 p 
 Single packages amounting to $2.00, 30 p 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r. 
 
 
 
 
 No package taken for less than 25c. at these prices. 
 
 Not responsible for loss of goods by fire. 
 
 On this list we accept only ordinary linen in every-day use. In case of loss or damage we will be respon- 
 sible only for such class of goods. Fine-grade table and bed linen can not be done for these prices, but will 
 be charged for according to the value of the goods. Make out your li«t and send with bundle; otherwise 
 We can not consider claims for shortage. 
 
 Not responsible for valuables of any kind left in garments or loss of goods by fire. 
 
 Bill rendered, Total 
 
 Mr. Howard. Let me see one of those lists. [Mr. Sowers hands 
 list to Mr. Howard.] 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. What does it mean by "pretty well together"? 
 Does he mean that they are organized down there? 
 
H0UBS OF LABOE FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 113 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir; I think he means that the prices are uniform. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. How does he get them uniform without organi- 
 zation? Can you explain that? The labor people have been trying 
 to get a uniform scale of wages for a good many years, and they 
 have always had to organize to get any success whatever. 
 
 The Chairman. Those are filed for the record? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes ; those are not in the record before. I want to 
 state that the prices on this list for starched work are practically 
 the same in Washington, and the prices on flat work are a little 
 higher than the average prices for that class of work in Washington ; 
 and at the same time we are putting our prices aginst Atlanta prices, 
 down there in the South, where labor is almost 50 per cent cheaper 
 than it is here, where the employer must exclusively employ colored 
 women in the laundries. I know of my own personal experience, 
 as far as North Carolina is concerned, that the cost of production 
 of laundry work is much cheaper in the South than it is here. Labor 
 down there is nearly 50 per cent cheaper than it is here, and even 
 with those conditions they do not give a better price, or as good a 
 price on the average, as we do. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I see some of your laundry work is 100 per cent 
 higher than in Atlanta. You charge 3 cents for napkins, and they 
 charge 1 cent. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We charge only half a cent for a great many of our 
 napkins. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I am only going by your list. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. That list has only individual prices, and this has - 
 them in quantities. We make a much lower price in quantities. 
 I also have a price list from Pittsburgh. 
 
 FORT PITT HOTEL LAUNDRY LIST. 
 
 
 P 
 
 Ittsburgh ,191.. Eel 
 
 
 
 
 
 Num- 
 ber of 
 pieces 
 
 I 
 
 Price. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 Num- 
 ber of 
 pieces. 
 
 Price. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 
 GENTLEMEN'S LIST. 
 
 
 
 gentlemen's list— continued . 
 
 Trousers 50 to SI 
 
 Union suits 20 
 
 Vests 30 
 
 LADIES' LIST. 
 
 Aprons in tn 20 
 
 
 
 Bosoms 10 
 
 Coats 25 to 50 
 
 Collars 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Drawers 10 to 15 
 
 Handkerchiefs 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 Pajamas 25 to 50 
 
 Stock ties 10 to 20 
 
 
 
 Chemises 
 
 Chemisettes 
 
 Corset covers 
 
 Combinations 
 
 Drawers 
 
 Dresses 
 
 Dresses, night 
 
 Kimonas 
 
 Napkins 
 
 Sacques 
 
 Stockings, per pair. 
 Skirts 
 
 15 to 75 
 10 to 25 
 15 to 25 
 15 to 75 
 15 to 75 
 
 50 to $5 
 15 to 81.50 
 
 25 to $2 
 5 
 
 25 to 81 
 
 25toS2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Shirts, plain 15 
 
 Shirts, flannel 20 
 
 Shirts, negligee 15 
 
 Shirts, silk 25 
 
 Shirts, dress, plaited or bosom, 
 
 with curls 20 
 
 Shirts, with collars and curls. .25 
 
 Shirts, night 15 to 25 
 
 Shirts, under 10 to 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Towels 5 
 
 
 
 Waists 
 
 25 to SL50 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Colored clothing will be taken only at owner's risk. 
 
 Positively no claims allowed unless made within 24 hours after goods are returned and accompanied 
 y original list. 
 
 78634—13 8 
 
114 HOTJES OF LABOK FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTBIOT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 T don't know whether that is pertinent here, but we could intro- 
 duce prices from all over the country and show that prices in Wash- 
 ington laundries are lower than they are in cities where conditions 
 would justify a lower price. We get 2£ cents for collars here, and in 
 Pittsburgh they get 3 cents. Where we get 12 cents for shirts they 
 get 15 cents and up to 25 cents, according to style, and so on down 
 their list. Our conditions here are such that we pay more for the 
 production of our work and get less than the average city, and why 
 under these conditions should we be made the model city? In other 
 words, why should we be experimented with and made the goat here, 
 you might say, for the benefit of other cities and other States whose 
 conditions are more favorable than ours? 
 
 Mr. Howabd. Mr. Sowers, the only real difference between you and 
 Atlanta which I am able to see is on laundering plain shirts. You 
 charge 10 cents, and they charge 12| cents. The Capital City Laun- 
 dry in Atlanta charges 12^ cents for shirts without cuffs. Now, you 
 make that up on the very next item and more than balance the differ- 
 ence in the prices between Atlanta and Washington by charging 15 
 cents for plaited-bosom shirts where they charge 12^ cents. 
 
 Mr. Soavees. That is about the average. There is a discrepancy 
 a little — some of the items are a little lower than ours and some are 
 a little higher, but the average is about the same. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I get the general average, just taking the price list 
 and going up and down it on flat stuff, as you call it, and on white 
 goods what do you figure is the average difference between Washing- 
 ton and Atlanta on this laundry which I have just stated to you is a 
 first-class high-priced laundry? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. What is your question, Mr. Howard ? 
 
 Mr. Howard. What is the difference in the average prices? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. As I figure it, there is no material difference. That is 
 just the point I want to make. Under these differences of operating, 
 where we are in competition with them, we are producing at as low, 
 if not lower prices, than they are. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I spoke the other day of the American Laundry Asso- 
 ciation or the National Laundry Association. Do all laundries belong 
 to that association? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir ; not by any means. 
 
 Mr. Howard. The Capital City Laundry Co. does, don't it? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I don't know. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you know why your friend telegraphed this 
 particular laundry? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It was at my request. I knew no laundrv in Atlanta 
 personally, and I simply asked him to telegraph this one* 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you know the Guthman Laundrv there ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you know the Troy Laundry people? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I know of them, but I do not know them personally. 
 1 knew none personally. 
 
 Mr Howard. Were "you aware of the fact that the Guthman and 
 Iroy Laundries maintain prices exactly as yours on these plain shirts? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir. If they do, I maintain that our prices are 
 about the same, from Mr. Fauss's letter, because those are average 
 prices. ° 
 
H0UES OF LABOB FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 115 
 
 I, 
 
 Mr Howard. You have the long end of the stick in prices on 
 laundering shirts, because this laundry in Atlanta charges ISA cent« 
 lor a shirt that you charge 15 cents for. 
 
 k Mr. Sowers. They charge 12± cents for a shirt that we only charge 
 10 cents for. J b 
 
 Mr. .Howard .Then you charge 15 cents for plaited shirts; and 
 anything that has any sort of a seam on it is generally termed 
 plaited, isn't it ? J 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I will say that the majority of shirts are termed plain 
 shirts, and they get 2A cents more than Ave do for them. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Mr. E. B. Farren is our next speaker. 
 
 The Chairman. Mr. Farren, you will state your residence and 
 business. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. E. B. FARREN, MANAGER OF WEST END 
 LAUNDRY, 1723 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE NW. 
 
 Mr. Farren. I would like to ask a question of the gentleman from 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 The Chairman. The gentleman from Atlanta, Ga., is not on the 
 stand. 
 
 Mr. Farren. Could I answer the question Mr. Sowers was unable 
 to answer? 
 
 The Chairman. What concern do you represent ? 
 
 Mr. Farren. The West End Laundry, 1723 Pennsylvania Avenue. 
 
 The Chairman. You may proceed. 
 
 Mr. Farren. A question has been asked about the national asso- 
 ciation, and if a certain laundry in Atlanta is a member of it. I 
 presume the idea is involved that only the high-priced laundries are 
 members of the association. That is not true. I am a member, and 
 no price is established by the National Laundry Association. It 
 makes no difference whether the prices are high or low, or whether 
 it is a good or bad laundry. They do not ask any questions of the 
 kind. You simply become a member and pay your dues, if you are 
 in the laundry business. 
 
 Now, the main thing that I wanted to speak about with reference 
 to this bill is the short Monday and Saturday. You give us a bill 
 with a straight 8-hour day, and necessarily that will do away with 
 that short Monday and Saturday. The girls want that short day, 
 the laundrymen want it, and the public want it. Now, if you can 
 give us a bill providing for 54 hours a week and not more than 10 
 hours in any one day, then we will reach this man that works these 
 long hours ; and the laundries want to reach him just as much as this 
 committee and the people who are behind this bill. Fifty-four hours 
 a week and not more than 10 hours in any one day is what we want, 
 and it is pretty nearly along the lines on which this bill is drawn 
 now. Under such an arrangement, the employees would not work 
 until 8 or 9 or 10 o'clock at night; and the majority of laundries 
 do not do that now. That would give our girls a short Saturday 
 and a short Mondav. but under this bill you do away with that point. 
 Mr. Howard. Eight there I would like to ask a question. I asked 
 this question the other day of Mr. Sowers. Have the laundries in 
 Washington tried to educate the people up to make deliveries to the 
 
116 HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 laundries on Friday at the latest? Do you instruct any of your 
 drivers to that effect ? 
 
 Mr. Fabeen. We instruct our drivers to do everything possible 
 and not to take up on Friday and Saturday. We ask the people 
 not to make calls on those days. We do that in order to get out 
 early on Saturday, and anything that comes in after certain hours 
 we carry over to the following Monday. 
 
 Mr. Howard. The proposition I am driving at is this : You com- 
 plain of a short Monday— that you can not put in but half a day on 
 Monday — and I presume that is occasioned by the fact that there is 
 nothing in the laundry to do. 
 
 Mr. Farren. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. And the question I am trying to get at is, have the 
 laundrymen made any effort to educate their customers up to the 
 point to tell them when the driver comes in to deliver a package of 
 clean laundry, to deliver the package of dirty laundry to him then? 
 
 Mr. Farren. The customer will rarely hand a package of dirty 
 laundry to the driver at the time they are receiving their clean 
 laundry, as probably some of it is in that bundle which they have 
 just received, unless they have lots of linen. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I understand, of course, but there are a great many 
 poor people in this country who only have one shirt. I am pretty 
 nearly in that class myself ; but I am talking about the people that 
 have more than one shirt. 
 
 Mr. F arrest. We can, of course, adjust our business in accordance 
 with this regulation. We can get enough work to start Monday 
 morning and work through until Saturday night under your bill, 
 but we want the girls to have this short day, and they want to have it. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Don't they have a short day on Saturday ? 
 
 Mr. Farren. They would not have it under this bill, because the 
 work that would come in on Saturday would have to be begun on 
 Saturday. Under the present method we tell our customers that the 
 work received on Saturday will be delivered the next week, and the 
 girls go home on Saturday. That is the only thing the laundrymen 
 have against this bill — not as to the hours, as to the way they are 
 divided. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Suppose it was arranged so that the laundrymen 
 could divide the time according to their own view and make it 48 
 hours a week, not exceeding 10 hours in any one day, as you say, 
 would you still have a short Saturday ? 
 
 Mr. Farren. Probably some of us would do that. Certainly we 
 do not want to work at night if we can get away from it. The dif- 
 ference between the laundrymen and the bill is very slight — it is very 
 narrow. You want us to take 8 hours a day continuously every day 
 in the week, and we ask for 54 hours in a week, and not more than 10 
 hours in a day. 
 
 Under such a bill, suppose a girl worked five days a week 10 hours 
 a day ; necessarily she can not work more than 4 hours on the sixth 
 day. That is all there is to it. You are disrupting the whole sys- 
 tem and injuring the girls, I believe, more than anybody else, by 
 making them work Saturday afternoon. Of course, Monday morn- 
 ing is not as valuable to the girls as Saturday afternoon, because 
 Saturday afternoon is a day of recreation, especially in the hot 
 summer months. 
 
HOITES OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 117 
 
 Mr. Howard. Under your present system you throw two days of 
 rest together — a half day on Saturday, a whole day on Sunday, and 
 a half a day on Monday. 
 
 Mr. Farren. It is not quite a half a day ; it is a short day, but not 
 a half day. The average in the busy season, I should think, would 
 be about 7 hours. Of course, the three short days do come together. 
 Now, that is the only objection we have to this bill. It is not so 
 much the 8 hours as it is the peculiar arrangement of it; and no man, 
 no matter what his inclinations might be, could overwork his hands 
 on a 10-hour limitation. The majority of laundrymen do not want 
 to do it, and I know if there is such a man in the business we 'are 
 just as anxious to get at him as the sponsors of this bill are. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. I would like to ask Mr. Sowers a question. In your 
 statement a moment ago, you stated that your prices were less than 
 the Pittsburgh prices. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. The average prices. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Is your average price less than the Pittsburgh aver- 
 age price? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Now. if this bill would prevail and be enacted into 
 law, could you meet these prices that you have now in your list? 
 Could you still do work for the prices you now have, under this 
 bill? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. No, sir; not unless we should cut salaries very 
 materially. 
 
 Mr. Bouse. If you do not cut the salaries, who would have to 
 pay for the increase in prices? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. The public, of course, in that event would have to 
 pay it. I might add to that that the public, generally, is the poor 
 man — the one-shirt man. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. In other words, you would be compelled to raise the 
 prices on your list? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. We would be compelled to raise the prices; yes. 
 
 The Chairman. So that the injury would not fall on the laundry- 
 man. The injury, if any, would fall on the public at large? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. And the injury would fall largely on the general 
 public, and the employees would be struck harder than anyone else — 
 not only our own employees, but the employees of all the other estab- 
 lishments. The prices would affect the people who have to watch 
 the dollars and cents just as much as they would the rich man. 
 
 The Chairman. Isn't it a fact that a great many of those that 
 work for wages do a great deal of their own work, and are not to 
 a great extent patrons of the steam laundries ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. There are a very few who have not a certain class 
 of work in the laundry, such as starched collars and cuffs, and 
 shirts, which go altogether to steam laundries or Chinese laundries. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I can not comprehend your logic about one thing. 
 You just stated that most of this burden is going to fall on the one- 
 shirt man. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I say he will feel the burden more. The burden 
 will fall on all, but he will feel it more. 
 
 Mr. Howard. The man who has more shirts will suffer more by 
 this bill, won't he? 
 
118 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. But he can stand it better, and our patronage in 
 Washington is composed largely of the poorer classes. 
 
 Now, what Mr. Farren said in reference to the short Saturday 
 and short Monday is very true, and we find that the girls would 
 very much prefer working these first five days and having their 
 Saturdays on, especially in the summer time, when they can go on 
 excursions, and for a large majority of them this is the only time 
 they have for shopping, and I know they would much prefer to have 
 ^heir time all in one day. 
 
 Mr. BrcHAXAX. Don't you think it would be a good thing to have 
 an 8-hour clay and a half holiday on Saturday, like some other trades 
 have, that they have gotten through organized labor? Don't you 
 think that would be a very good thing for the girls? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It would be very nice to have no work, if we could 
 live without it. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. No; that would not be nice. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Unless, labor increased in some way, I do not know 
 how this increased cost of living is going to be met. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I do not know where you get the idea that no 
 work would be a good thing. Nature intended that human land 
 should be active physically, and that is what work is for. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Man must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow 
 ;>nd the less he works the less he must eat; but there is a class of 
 people who are never satisfied and want to work as little as possible. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. They are very much in the minority. A large 
 majority of those are the ones who are trying to make a certain part 
 work more than they ought to. 
 
 Mr. Sowees. That class we are just as willing to reach as you are. 
 We are perfectly agreeable to 54 hours a week, and we have no 
 sympathy with the brute that will work a girl 12 to 14 hours a day, 
 and we want legislation that will protect those girls; but we want 
 to set our conditions. I notice that none of you gentlemen answered 
 me the other day when I referred to the inaugural occasion, when our 
 work is increased from 50 to 100 per cent ; how is it going to be met? 
 The Chairman. I want to call Mr. Sowers's attention to the fact 
 that the committee is not here for the purpose of answering any 
 interrogatories presented. We are here for the purpose of getting 
 any facts that may be presented and then using those facts in con- 
 nection with such legislation as may be advisable. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I asked for suggestions, and my natural conclusion is 
 that there can be no remedy when such conditions arise on such oc- 
 casions. If we didn't work overtime the result would be that a large 
 number of visitors would go away from Washington calling it "the 
 greatest hole on earth because they could not get their linen laundered, 
 Mr. Buchanan. We do not intend to let you make mouthpieces ol 
 the witnesses that you brought here. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I just want to ask you this question : We are want- 
 ing information, as the chairman said, and that is all we do want 
 Every conceivable force in this town is doubled during inauguration 
 sis you know. They double the police force and they probably doubl* 
 the fire-department force, and I do not know what all they do noi 
 double. Now, then, to meet this emergency, with women wanting 
 work, and there being nothing intricate about the laundry business 
 why couldn't you double your force to meet that emergency? 
 
* HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 119 
 
 ft,; 
 
 f* Mr. Sowers. Because, sir, competent skilled labor is not available. 
 I It comes at a time when every laundry needs additional help and 
 " it is impossible to get them. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Doesn't that bear me out in the suggestion that you 
 double your force ? Other laundries are doing the same thing. . ' 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I say it is impossible to double your force under those 
 ' conditions, and even if it were possible the equipment would not be 
 available, unless we maintained a double equipment, and possibly our 
 building would not accommodate that. I want to make one explana- 
 tion here, in answer to Kepresentative Buchanan's statement about 
 making mouthpieces of witnesses 
 
 Mr. Buchanan (interposing). I think your position on that before 
 this committee should be construed as contempt. 
 
 The Chairman. I do not think the committee cares to hear any 
 further discussion upon that phase of the question. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It was referred to, and that is the reason I wanted to 
 answer it. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Avalear has some information 
 on the question of these mangling machines, Avhich I thtink might of 
 interest to the committee. 
 
 The Chairman. We will hear Mr. Avalear. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. F. P. AVALEAR, 2117 FOURTEENTH STREET 
 NW., REPRESENTING THE ELITE LAUNDRY CO. 
 
 Mr. Avalear. I am not opposing this bill, with the exception of 
 the 8-hour per day clause. If you gentlemen see fit to give us 48 
 hours a week we will be perfectly satisfied with it. As Miss Obenauer 
 has stated the foot treadle machines that the girls have been working, 
 worked rather hard. That has been true of the machines that we 
 have at present in some of the laundries, but the manufacturers to^ 
 day are manufacturing a machine operated by compressed air, so 
 that the girls do not have to use the foot-pressure treadle. They 
 simply put their foot on the lever and the compressed air gives suffi- 
 cient pressure to the rolls to iron the linen smooth. When these two 
 pressure rolls are heated they are opened up and the girl heretofore 
 has had to put a certain amount of weight on them, which of course 
 comes from her body, to iron the goods smooth. Now the compressed 
 air machine has taken the place of what has been known as the lever 
 machine. I might say that we have not any yet, but the next machine 
 we order will be a compressed air machine, and I can state, to you 
 that there are a good many laundries in Washington that have them. 
 The Yale laundry has some of these machines. Now, I want to say 
 that last week I made a record of the time, because the discussion had 
 been up over in the Senate. On Monday we worked 7 hours-; that is, 
 most of the employees did; on Saturday we worked from 2 to 3 
 hours; on Friday we worked 8 hours. We have about 100 employees 
 in our plant, and about 20 of them left the establishment last Satur- 
 day from about half past 2 to half past 3, and 17 of those 20 that 
 were left off at that hour did not return until between 11 and half 
 past 11 and 12 o'clock yesterday morning, andVthey will be paid a 
 full week s salary. In the summer time we ghjg them more time 
 than that off, and I wish some one in this committee would investi- 
 gate mv statements and sec if they are not facts. \ 
 
120 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 
 Mr. Andrews. We have Mr. Chorley, secretary of the Ladies 
 Tailors Association, from whom that 'petition Avas presented. ] 
 would like to hear from him. 
 
 The Chairman. Wc will hear Mr. Chorley. 
 
 STATEMENT OF S. C. CHORLEY, 1018 FOURTEENTH STREET NW., 
 SECRETARY OF THE LADIES' TAILORS ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The Chairman. What is your business, Mr. Chorley? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. Ladies' tailoring. I have filed a brief here, I be- 
 lieve it was last Thursday morning, from the secretary of the Retail 
 Merchants' Association, and I think that practically embodies the 
 sentiment of the ladies' tailors. Our business is a peculiar line of 
 work which conies in seasons, practically from about the 15th of 
 September or a little later to a week prior to Christmas, and our 
 season is then closed for a period of practically four or five weeks, 
 and especially at this time of the year we have practically nothing 
 to do. The girls in our employ work mostly 9 hours a day. I be- 
 lieve that is the general rule in Washington, and other places, in 
 those three months, from the 15th of September or the 1st of October 
 until Christmas, and if they are desirous of working overtime we 
 allow them to do so; in fact, it is absolutely necessary at times to 
 produce our garments that they work overtime. When a lady 
 comes in with a wedding order or a funeral order — and they are al- 
 ways in a hurry — sometimes they are leaving the city and want the 
 garment at once in order to leave on a certain train, and in such a 
 case h is necessary to work overtime. 
 
 If the garment is not completed it is left on our hands, and we can 
 scarcely afford to keep garments left in that way because our profits 
 are not large. We are not opposing the 8-hour law so long as we 
 have the privilege of allowing the girls to work overtime if they 
 desire to — not that we force them to do it. There are occasions that 
 arise where they have to work long hours, and they work possibly 6 
 or 8 or 10 hours, and they need to work overtime in busy seasons in 
 order to tide them over the dull season. In the summer time there is 
 practically no work at all — June, July, and August, and until the mid- 
 dle of September. There is a long period of time that they have 
 nothing to do, and they are anxious to make overtime enough to carry 
 them through this dull season, but if you enact this bill into law, this 
 8 hours will deprive them of the overtime that they are desirous 
 of making. 
 
 The Chairman. Mr. Andrews presented a petition this morning 
 from some 28 or 30 employees of ladies' tailoring and dressmaking 
 establishments of the city. Are you interested in the circulation of 
 this petition among the different establishments of the city ? 
 
 Mr. Chorlev. Yes ; I am secretary of the Ladies' Tailors Associa- 
 tion of Washington. 
 
 The Chairman. That is an association of employers ? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. An association of employers ; yes. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you know whether or not those who signed this 
 petition knew what they were signing? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. The reason I ask is that information has been con- 
 veyed to me by employees who have signed this petition, and who for 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 121 
 
 obvious reasons do not desire their personality known, that numbers 
 of those who signed this petition did not know what they were sign- 
 ing, and that when some of them asked what they were signing they 
 were told that it was nothing, to just go on and sign it. Do you know 
 anything about anything of that kind? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. I do not know anything about that. I do not kno^ 
 who could have started such a story as that. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you know if all those whose names appear on 
 this petition signed it themselves ? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. Of all the employing tailors? 
 
 The Chairman. No, the employees. 
 
 Mr. Chorley. The employees— to the best of my belief, they did. 
 Let me say, the handwriting is very poor in many cases, because 
 there are a great many foreigners that are able to write only a little 
 English. J 
 
 The Chairman. Is there anything further ? 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to ask you one question. What per. 
 centage of employees in your business are from foreign countries ? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. I might say 70 per cent. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Can they all read and understand the English 
 language ? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. Most invariably, yes ; those who come here to Wash- 
 ington can speak English fairly well, and a great number write it tp 
 a small degree. Our business is such that the American does not care 
 to learn it. The hours are too long and the seasons are too short 
 and we have to depend entirely on the foreign population to produce 
 our garments. 
 
 Mr. Manning. This petition you refer to here as having been 
 presented to the merchants' association — is it true, as has been stated, 
 that the merchants' association as a body has not indorsed the opposi- 
 tion to this bill ? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. Every one of them whose signatures are on the peti- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Manning. I am speaking of the merchants' association. 
 
 Mr. Chorley. You mean the Ketail Merchants' Association. I 
 have nothing to do with that. The petition is entirely from the 
 Ladies' Tailors Association. 
 
 Mr. Manning. I understood it was from the merchants' associa- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Chorley. No; I came down here Thursday morning to be 
 heard and the session lasted two hours but I could not be heard. I 
 left on Thursday night for New York and just returned last night 
 and during the interim I handed the petition over to Mr. Ellery, of 
 the Retail Merchants' Association, for presentation to the committee, 
 if necessary, before I returned. 
 
 Mr. Manning. You do not know anything about the action of the 
 retail merchants' association? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. No, sir ; I do not know anything about that. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Did these employees sign this petition themselves ? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. They certainly did, to the best of my knowledge. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Now, following those two names at the top of that page 
 [indicating], I wish you would look at the four signatures following 
 them and see whether or not you think they signed them or one man 
 
122 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IX THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 signed those four names. Start with the second name from the top 
 and look at the four signatures. 
 
 Mr. Chorley. Well, Mr. Chairman, I have to admit the handwrit- 
 ing somewhat resembles one another. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Now, look down further and see if you do not see 
 six more signatures in that same handwriting. 
 
 Mr. Chorley. No; I do not see any others that resemble that. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Well, the same man that wrote those, four names 
 Wrote these six [indicating]. 
 
 Mr. Chorley. No ; that is from a different firm. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I know ; but who circulated the petition ? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. I sent it out by messenger boys, and of course I 
 could not swear who made the signatures. Of course, the circum- 
 stances have been explained to these people, and it seems to me from 
 what I gather they are all in accord in signing their names for the 
 prevention of the execution of this law. 
 
 The Chairman. Have you anything further? 
 
 Mr. Chorley. No; nothing further. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Mr. Wineman is our next witness. Before Mr. 
 Wineman goes on, Mr. Chairman, I wish to state regarding the ques- 
 tion the gentleman asked the previous witness that I was acting 
 president of the retail merchants' association in the absence of the 
 president and vice president, and at the request of about a dozen 
 merchants I called a special meeting of the board of directors to act 
 in opposition to this bill. I asked what had been done previously, 
 and I was informed by the secretary that at a previous meeting of 
 the association the association had gone on record as opposed to the 
 bill, and the president had appointed a committee of three or five, 
 I do not remember just which. That was my authority for stating, 
 as I did in my opening address, that as acting president of the associ- 
 ation the representatives of the retail merchants had gone on record 
 as being opposed to this bill. I was not present at the meeting, and 
 I have no personal interest in it whatever. 
 
 The Chairman. You may proceed, Mr. Wineman. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN C. WINEMAN, 914 F STREET NW. 
 
 The Chairman. What is your business, Mr. Wineman? 
 
 Mr. Wineman. Tailoring, to both men and women. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I am not here to oppose the 8-hour law ; I am only 
 here to oppose the clause with reference to overtime. Our girls 
 work now 9 hours per day during the week, with the exception of 
 Saturday. During the winter months our shops close at 5 o'clock 
 on Saturday and pay off. In the summer months we try to get 
 through the day and get out by 1 o'clock, so they generally work the 
 entire 9 hours for the 6 days, but they do work overtime* There 
 are cases where it is practically impossible to get along without 
 overtime. We have emergencies' come along that we can not avoid, 
 and we must work overtime in order to get the work done. People 
 come in in a hurry— a Member of Congress, for instance, comes here 
 and leaves his full-dress suit at home, and he wants a dress suit in 
 a short time, and, in order to complete the vrork, we have to work 
 overtime. But if a girl works overtime we pay her for it. If she 
 
IOUKS OP LABOE FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTBICT OF COLUMBIA. 123 
 
 3 so inclined and desires to remain off. the next day we let her do 
 hat in pursuance to her overtime. For instance, if she works three 
 lours at night we furnish her with her supper, and the next morni- 
 ng she does not need to come back until 10 or 11 o'clock, depending 
 in the time that she worked overtime the night before. A great 
 nany prefer to work overtime ; they want "the additional money 
 hey make. We pay about 20 per cent more for overtime than 
 :egular time, and in addition to that we buy them their dinner or 
 supper. Here in Washington we are in very close competition 
 with Baltimore. 
 
 Baltimore is the tailors' worst enemy, and we are within 40 min- 
 utes' ride of them, and they have a 10-hour system over there. The 
 cost of living is a great deal lower in Baltimore than it is over here. 
 Occasionally we go to Baltimore for help ; we pay men $22 a week 
 here that work in Baltimore for $18 a week. A great deal of our 
 help is foreign help, but of course we employ a great many Ameri- 
 can girls and we pay very fair wages, from $6 to $18 a week. I 
 have one girl who gets $18 a week for 10 months in the year. There 
 is a distinction in our business in that there are two months in the 
 year that we are closed up entirely. That is in July and August, 
 and they all get salaries sufficient to tide them over those two 
 months. In the dull season we close at 5 o'clock during the week 
 and at 1 o'clock on Saturdays. Now, we do have emergencies arise 
 where we have to work overtime, and we have a great many of them. 
 The inaugural ball is considered an emergency. Unfortunately we 
 -will not have it this year. The inaugural ball figured $1,200 to me 
 four years ago. Of course, I am very fortunate in having an emer- 
 gency come in at this time— the suffragettes' parade. I am making 
 uniforms and riding suits for the suffragettes now. We worked 
 overtime last night and we expect to work overtime for the next 
 two weeks on suffragettes' clothing. I am willing to comply with 
 the 8-hour law provision if we can have an opportunity for those 
 girls to work overtime. 
 The Chairman. Do you invariably close at 1 o'clock during the 
 
 dull season? , , . ,, 
 
 Mr. Wineman. Yes; we find it best to do that m the summer 
 
 time. . , . 
 
 The Chairman. How do you take care of the person who comes 
 in with a rush order in the summer time for clothing that they want 
 to use in going to church on Sunday ? 
 
 Mr Wineman. In the summer time they are all sitting around 
 there so hungry for work that we are always willing to do it 
 
 immediately. , „ . , » 
 
 The Chairman. In other words, you have a sufficient amount ot 
 force to get the work out so that it is all through by 1 o clock. 
 
 Mr. Wineman. In the summer time only. I frequently go up to 
 my workroom in the summer time and find some of the tailors up 
 there who are getting from $18 to $25 a week smoking or playing 
 cards. I have seen them many times when I come up hiding the 
 cards away. We do not expect them to make their full salary in 
 the summer time, but they have got to live, and we keep them dur- 
 ing the summer season. 
 The Chairman. Is there anything further i 
 
124 HOTJBS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. I would like to ask Mr. McSween how the extra 
 time paid to their female help compares with the extra time paid in 
 the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a Government institution. 
 They both work overtime, as has been stated by Mr. Ralph, and I 
 believe he states how much they are paid. I want to bring out how 
 much the National Government pays for overtime. 
 
 Mr. McSween. The rate paid by us is time and a half. That is 
 the rate fixed by the union, but I do not know what the bureau rate 
 is at all. 
 
 The Chairman. You pay time and a half for overtime ? 
 
 Mr. McSween. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. I think Mr. Ralph stated in his letter that it is 
 the same rate per day for overtime ; that they do not pay time and a 
 half or anything extra. 
 
 The Chairman. Is there anything further, Mr. Andrews? 
 
 Mr. Andrews. We have no other witnesses this morning. 
 
 STATEMENT OF L. A. STERNE, 701 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE NE., 
 FIRST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE MARYLAND STATE FEDERA- 
 TION OF LABOR. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I am first vice president of the Maryland State Fed- 
 eration of Labor, and I have been instructed to come here and favor 
 this bill. 
 
 The Chairman. What is the jurisdiction of the Maryland State 
 Federation of Labor ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. They have 100,000 trade unionists in the State of 
 Maryland. 
 
 The Chairman. What I want to get at is its jurisdiction. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. It covers the entire State of Maryland and the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia and is affiliated with the American Federation of 
 Labor. Since the District has no suffrage we are tacked onto 
 Maryland, and that is how we come to be a part of it. I am also rep- 
 resenting the stenographers' union. There are others who will be 
 heard here who will no doubt vouch for what I say — that I am 
 representing the stenographers' union, which is an organization 
 composed of women in the city of Washington, 100 women and 
 about 20 men — and they are in favor of the 8-hour working day for 
 women. It has been suggested to me by the executive board of my 
 State that the law which requires that the employers shall post and 
 keep posted in a conspicuous place a statement that there are no 
 women employed in their establishment under a certain age does 
 not work out, and we believe that in that section ought to be the 
 names of the employees and their ages. We believe that ought to 
 be in there, because then the general public going through the 
 stores and seeing, for instance, that Miss Doe is 18 years old, they 
 can see for themselves whether she is 18 or not, because we are taking 
 it for granted that there are some unscrupulous employees. 
 
 Now, I happen to have had some experience with the laundries in 
 Washington in the last four years. We attempted to organize the 
 laundry girls here and we got our charter, and the charter was 
 smothered by the employers. The organization was killed before 
 we could install it. I want to say to you gentlemen that I have no 
 
HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 125 
 
 personal fight with Mr. Sowers or any of the other laundrymen, but 
 I am willing to make oath to what I say, that these are truths. Now, 
 take for instance in the summer time — that is, through the months 
 of June, July, and Augusts have been into the laundries, and I 
 can give you the names of them if you want them; and where the 
 mangles, these irons are heated, and while it may not be so bad in 
 the daytime, at night when they turn on the artificial light the heat 
 is something unbearable. 
 
 The Chairman. Have you made any records by thermometers of 
 the heat? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I tried to. I made a couple of attempts, but the 
 employers watched me too close and I cpuld not do it; but the tem- 
 perature in some of them runs up to 105 and 110. There are some 
 laundries here that are not so bad, but there are some others that 
 are not pleasure resorts to work in. Now, 1 tell these laundrymen 
 that they can work under the 8-hour law. I know something about 
 the employers' position on legislation, and of course they are going 
 to defend their side of the question. I say that you can work your 
 laundry from half-past 8 to 5 in the evening and have your engineer 
 there in the morning to have your mangles heated and have your 
 work begin as soon as the girls come. 
 
 Now, if it is proven to the satisfaction of this committee that only 
 5 per cent of the girls are oppressed this bill ought to be passed if it 
 will help these unfortunates. We have only 20 per cent of these 
 women in the District of Columbia and Maryland that are organized. 
 Tfo^ have told me that they do not dare to organize ; they have come 
 to my home and my office and have told me that they do not dare to 
 testify before this committee. They have told me that they were 
 told if they came up here and testified the way their employers 
 wanted them to testify it would be all right. I know that that is 
 true because I know the girls and I know where they work. Now, 
 Mr. Chairman, I am astounded at the position of the employers on 
 this bill. This is a humane bill. It is asking only 8 hours' work for 
 the women of this city. I have never forgotten that my mother was 
 a woman and I would hate to think that my mother had to work 
 under some of the conditions that exist in Washington. 
 
 The Chairman. Suppose, Mr. Sterne, that you proceed to tell us 
 some of these conditions in order that the committee may be able to 
 judge of them. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Might I ask Mr. Sterne to mention some of the 
 places ? 
 
 The Chahiman. No; that would scarcely be permissible. I think 
 objection was raised some time ago on the part of those representing 
 various employers relative to specifying the wage rates of particular 
 individuals and the committee out of courtesy to the employers de- 
 clined to interrogate as to the particular wages or as to the wages of 
 particular individuals and the same rule would apply in this in- 
 stance. If it becomes necessary the committee will ultimately go 
 into that, but for the present they do not deem it necessary. But I 
 suggest to the witness that he give to the committee such facts as he 
 has in his possession so that we will be in a position to do what the 
 conditions seem to warrant. 
 
126 HOXJES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IX THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Now, Mr. Chairman, to get right down to the matter 
 plain, these girls have informed me that the work is injurious to 
 their health ; that the humidity and heat is very bad, especially in 
 these overtime laundries that work at night. Another evidence that 
 it is injurious is the fact that there is a continual change in the help. 
 Of course, there is some skilled help, but there is a continual change 
 going on all the time and the girls tell me that they have a good deal 
 of negro help that they pay from $3 to $3.50 a week. They work 
 two or three weeks and somebody else takes their place. That is the 
 information they give me. That is about all I have to say about the 
 laundries, but it is very evident to me from what they have told me 
 that this overtime work in the summer time is injurious. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. As Mr. Sterne is testifying as a laundry expert I 
 would like to ask if he has had any experience in the laundry busi- 
 ness? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I am testifying as a man who is charged to help the 
 condition of the working girls and has been prevented by the laun- 
 drymen in the city of Washington. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You are testifying as an expert in this business. 
 Are you qualified to speak as an expert laundryman ? 
 
 The Chairman. I do not think the witness has attempted to 
 qualify as an expert laundryman. As I understand it he is not 
 qualifying as an expert either as a laundryman or as to mercantile 
 establishments. He is testifying as a representative of certain 
 organizations. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. May I ask him if he attempted to get any of those 
 girls to come here and tell this committee the conditions? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Yes; and they refused to come because they said they 
 would lose their jobs if they came. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Are you in a position to give the committee the 
 names of the employees that were told that they should not come 
 here and if they did so they would lose their positions ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I am not going to give their names. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. You stated that the employees said that they would 
 lose their positions if they came up here to testify. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Yes; that was their statement. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It has been stated here that there are some 700 or 
 800 females employed in the steam laundries in the city of Wash- 
 ington. Mav I ask vou how many cases of complaint you have from 
 those 700 or '800? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I have had girls come from several different laundries 
 and they said that was the sentiment of the girls working in those 
 particular laundries. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Do you know how many laundries there are in 
 Washington ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Off-hand, I should say 10 or 12. I can give you 10 
 or 12 right off. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You have had several girls out of this 700 or 800 
 complain to you ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Eotjse. How many? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Thev have come to me several times. 
 
HOTJBS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 127 
 
 , Mr. Rouse. How many times? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Several came to my home a couple of times, and 
 several came to the office, and others have seen me on the outside 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Have you their names? 
 f Mr. Sterne. They refused to give me their names in several 
 cases, because they thought if they came and testified they would 
 lose their positions. I can furnish the names if necessary I am 
 very sure they would give them to me. 
 
 Mr. Roise. You could locate them, could you ? 
 I Mr. Sterne. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. They are working now, are they ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Some of them have quit the laundry business because, 
 you oppressed them— not you personally ; I won't 'say that— but the 
 laundries. One of them that I wanted to get here is working to-day 
 cleaning cars, and I could not get her, but I will get her if these 
 hearings are continued indefinitely. 
 
 The Chairman. They are not likely to be continued indefinitely, 
 but there has been a great deal of irrelevant matter injected into the 
 hearings, and we would like to have definite facts. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Mr. Sterne said that he represented 20 males and 
 100 females in the stenographers' union. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. One hundred females and 20 males. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. You do not get paid for that? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. You are paid by the American Federation of Labor, 
 are you not ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I do not know whether I ought to tell the history of 
 my life to these people. 
 
 The Chairman. I do not know what particular bearing that has 
 on this matter, whether he is being paid or whether he is a member 
 of these bodies. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. These hearings are losing time. Every one that 
 we bring up here loses the time that he comes, and we are trying to 
 show what is behind it. 
 
 The Chairman. So far as this committee is concerned it has not 
 invited anyone to appear before it. Anyone who comes here 
 comes of his own volition, and we are not asking the merchants to 
 lose time or the employees to lose time. We are patiently listening 
 to what each of you have to say in order that we may get at the 
 facts. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. It is simply a question that we have to defend our 
 rights, and we just want to bring out some statements in order that 
 we may do that. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. You understand I was not speaking about the tailors; 
 I am speaking about laundries. I would like to put in here this 
 bill of mine, " 1 shirt, 1 collar, 18 cents," and see how it compares 
 with the other prices. 
 
128 HOUKS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IX THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 
 F. V. KILLIAN, FRANKLIN LAUNDRY. 
 
 [Phones Main 1342-1343. 504-508 Thirteenth Street, Washington, D. C] 
 
 Mr. Sterne. 
 
 Mark, S212. Date, February 3, 1913. 
 Residence, Eighth and C NE. 
 M.— P. W.— T. 
 
 Collars (embroidered) 5c and up 
 
 Collars 2 jc 
 
 Cuffs, each 2Jc 
 
 Shirts, plain 10c 
 
 Shirts, open front 12c 
 
 Shirts, plaited 15c 
 
 Shirts, with cuffs (C.) 15c 
 
 Shirts, with collars 18c 
 
 Ladies' waists 25c and up 
 
 Handkerchiefs 3c 
 
 Handkerchiefs, silk 5c 
 
 Socks, per pair 5c 
 
 Undershirts 8c 
 
 Drawers 8c 
 
 Night shirts 10c and up 
 
 Union suits 16c and up 
 
 Night suits 16c and up 
 
 Vests 25c 
 
 Neckties 5c to 10c 
 
 Coats 10c and up 
 
 Aprons 5c and up 
 
 10. C 
 
 N. B.— Not responsible lor loss or damage of linen in case of fire. All articles promptly called for an< 
 delivered. Losses must be reported in 24 hours with list or no allowance will he made. All colored goo* 
 laundered at owner's risk. 
 
 My purpose in that is that my position is — I challenge the laundrj 
 people to prove to this committee that they are not making profit 
 enough to work under the 8-hour system. I challenge that state- 
 ment. I would like to see a sworn statement that they can not work 
 at a profit at these prices under the 8-hour law. Now, Mr. Chair- 
 man, unless there are any more questions on the laundry business I 
 will leave that. 
 
 The waitresses are very anxious for this legislation to go through. 
 There are waitresses in this town, Mr. Chairman, who are working 
 from 7 o'clock in the morning until 9 o'clock at night for $4 a week. 
 The waitress to-day in Washington who gets $5 a week is getting 
 big money. You can investigate that for yourself— take any of the 
 cafes in Washington employing female help, and you will find that 
 their hours are excessive and their wages are very low, and my or- 
 ganizations believe that this bill ought to be pased because of the 
 moral effect, the uplift it would bring to the homes of these women 
 after they are taken out of the shops and stores and go to their homes 
 at night. We realize, Mr. Chairman, and I am instructed to say 
 that the morality of the women would be much better if the wages 
 were better and the hours were less. That can be supported, no 
 doubt, by statistics of the Department of Labor that the lower the 
 Wage the lower the morality. A girl can not live on $5 a week. It 
 is impossible. Now, in support of the argument for the 8-hour law, 
 that they can work under the 8-hour law, I will call attention to the 
 coal yards of Washington, which close at 6 o'clock in the evening. I 
 have made an investigation of most of the coal yards in the city, and 
 I find that they close at 6 o'clock at night, and coal is more of a 
 necessity than anything you can buy in a department store or a 
 laundry either. 
 
giOUBS Or LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 129 
 
 We believe it is a matter of education, and if the people of the 
 District of Columbia are given to understand that they can get their 
 [aundry only at a certain nour, that they can not get anything after 
 i certain hour, they will get it within that time. When the 8-hour 
 labor law was before this Congress several years ago they said they 
 could not operate under it on account of the Christmas shopping. 
 The stores in Los Angeles, CaL, made the same howl, but my mother 
 tad worked in a department store in Los Angeles, and I know that 
 the law is operating in Los Angeles, Cal., to-day satisfactorily. It 
 went into effect last January and is operating satisfactorily in Colo- 
 rado and California, and it can operate here. The whole question 
 is, Mr. Chairman, that they do not want it to operate. They do not 
 want to do anything that will assist the down-trodden women. They 
 will work them long hours and at low wages if you will let them. 
 A lot of these stores on Seventh Street would be working their em- 
 ployees on Sunday if the law would let them. There are some fair 
 employers in this town, but they are in the minority, and I want to 
 say that the main kick of these people is that they do not get paid 
 for overtime v They are fined 1 cent a minute for being late in the 
 morning, but they do not give them 1 cent more for overtime. They 
 fine every girl 1 cent a minute for being late, but last week when the 
 girls went back to take stock at night they did not get 1 cent for 
 overtime. At Christmas they give them a paltry 25-cent supper and 
 work them until 10 or 11 o'clock at night; but when we want to 
 take the matter into our hands we are told that we are anarchists; 
 but I say that we are the only force in the District of Columbia to- 
 day that is protecting these women against these employers. I want 
 to say, Mr. Chairman, that these employers have held the club over 
 these girls and said, " If this bill goes through, we will reduce your 
 salarv"; but I say they dare not reduce their salary any lower than 
 it is and expect the public of Washington to continue to uphold them 
 in what they are doing, because the salaries that exist now are abso- 
 lutely at the minimum. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you think that so far as the salaries are con- 
 cerned they will be either higher or lower, just as supply and demand 
 regulates it? ' 
 
 Mr. Sterne. No, sir; I believe salaries will be just as low as the 
 employer can get the girls to work for them. That has been my 
 experience for 13 years. 
 
 The Chairman. That would be true under the 8-hour workday or 
 the 10-hour workday ; that they will employ the girls at the lowest 
 possible rate that they can get them, will they not? 
 
 M^r Sterne ~Y"gs sir. 
 
 The Chairman. If they could get girls for less than they are get- 
 ting them now, whether on an 8-hour basis, a 10-hour basis, or a 
 12-hour basis, don't you think they would dare to employ them? 
 What would prevent them employing them if they could get them I 
 
 Mr. Sterne. They would not dare to face public opinion by driving 
 down wages any lower, because they are down to the minimum now. 
 Of course they have some at $10 and $12 a week, but let us go down 
 to the bundle wrappers that are getting $3 or $4 a week. I am going 
 to close now by saying that there is nothing in this bill, it it goes 
 frrough, that will injure the employer. What is to prevent the 
 
 78634—13 9 
 
130 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 
 
 employer from paying his help on Friday? What is going to pre- 
 vent paying them on Friday, so that they can shop on Saturday 
 morning ? There is nothing in this Saturday-night business, anyhow. 
 Most of the people that go down town Saturday night do what the 
 shopgirls call " pilling," going from store to store and buying nothing. 
 
 I would like to have the members of this committee, if they could, 
 go through the stores of this town and see the conditions for them- 
 selves. In closing I want to say that we hope this bill will be passed 
 at this session; and if not passed at this session, we at least hope it 
 will be reported favorably for the consideration of the next Congress. 
 Now, I trust you will give Mr. John B. Colpoys, secretary of the 
 Central Labor Union of Washington, a few minutes. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to ask one question, inasmuch as you 
 have made an investigation of the conditions in Washington. What 
 percentage have you discovered of the girls and women in Washing- 
 ton receive as much as $10 a week for their services ? Have you any 
 figures on that? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I haven't the figures, but I can get them. I have the 
 data on that, but I have been so busy that I have not had time to 
 compile it. I believe that is brought out in the testimony of the 
 ladies. My idea is that there is a whole lot of them who are getting 
 way down low — $1.50 and $1.75 — and there are very few getting $10 
 or $11 or $12. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to get an idea of what is the average 
 wage of these- girls in Washington and other cities. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. My idea is that the average wage is between $4 and 
 $5 a week. When a shopgirl gets $5 a week she thinks she is getting 
 pretty fair wages. I know about that, because my wife and my sister- 
 in-law and my mother have been shopgirls, and I happen to come 
 from a family of shopgirls employed in other cities — members of my 
 family — and they tell me that if they are getting $5 a week they are 
 getting good wages. Of course they have to live at home on that 
 salary. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Would you be in favor of the household employees— 
 the working girls, the domestics — being included in this 8-hour bill? 
 Would you be in favor of including them also ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Absolutely, yes. 
 ' Mr. Andrews. Mr. Chairman, I wish to say for the benefit of the 
 committee that the coal companies — some of them — work all night 
 delivering coal to their customers. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I am speaking of the retail trade now. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I would like to ask the gentleman if he will go on 
 record as opposed to overtime? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. We leave that to the judgment of the committee. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. We would like to have the Federation of Labor go on 
 record as to overtime. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. May I answer the question? 
 
 The Chairman. That is what you are here for, I suppose. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. We are absolutely opposed to overtime except in 
 emergencies. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. In my statement here I have absolutely proved that 
 all of my employees get paid for overtime, and I am willing to have 
 anybody down here to testify to that fact. I would also like to go 
 on record as repeating the statement from the Department of Labor 
 
DUES OF LABOB FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 131 
 
 at the average wage in the tailoring business is $9.88 — practically 
 — which is more than they pay in the Bureau of Engraving and 
 tinting. 
 
 The Chairman. Let me say that this witness is on the stand. You 
 e recognized for the purpose of asking the witness a question, 
 ou have asked the question, and if you have any further questions 
 ask the chair will be ready to recognize you for the asking of 
 ose questions. Such statements as you have to make the chair 
 ill recognize you for and they will go into the record in your 
 en time. 
 
 Are there any further questions? 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. If it is necessary, we can get the positive testimony 
 iat the girls are paid overtime by the ladies' tailors in Washington ; 
 iat they are even paid time and a half on Sundays, and that the 
 rls are not opposed to that practice. That is the reason we are 
 sirous to have prevail the rule of overtime — not that we are op- 
 >sed to the 8-hour provision. 
 
 Mr. Sterne. There is a gentleman here that knows more about 
 iese questions, and he can give you full information. In closing, 
 x. Chairman, I ask you in the interest of these women in Washing- 
 n, for the betterment of their health, that you please report this 
 11 to the House before the 4th of March. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. How many of the 100 members of the stenog- 
 tphers' union that you represent — how many reside in the city of 
 r ashington ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Every one of them. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I understood Mr. Sterne to say just a minute ago 
 iat he was in favor of protecting alike the domestic in the house- 
 )ld the same as the girls that work in the stores. 
 The Chairman. How do you stand on that? Would you make 
 is bill apply to domestic service, or are you opposed to that? 
 Mr. Sterne. There is an old saying that " man works from sun to 
 in, but woman's work is never done." Now, I know that you can 
 )t take that into the home and expect the housewife to work 8 hours 
 id no more. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. I mean the domestics who work in the house. 
 Mr. Sterne. I have a domestic in my house, and she works 8 houts. 
 Mr. Andrews. Are you in favor of having this bill protect alike 
 e domestics who work in these, homes these long hours ? 
 Mr. Sterne. Yes, I am. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Then you have asked the committee to act favor- 
 »ly on this bill. Do we understand that you want to offer an 
 nendment to the bill to include domestics? 
 Mr. Sterne. I do not undertake to dictate to the committee. 
 Mr. Andrews. You seek to protect these domestics in the home, 
 id yet you let this bill go along without that provision in it? 
 The Chairman. Do you think that would be a good thing if we 
 d an 8-hour bill for domestic servants? 
 Mr. Sterne. Yes; for Congressmen, too. 
 
 The Chairman. You are not suggesting to this committee that they 
 ike that amendment? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. No, sir; we are glad to have a half loaf. We con- 
 ler that better than none. 
 
132 HOUKS OF LABOB FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Wiseman. Now, you go over here to Baltimore, and they have 
 JO hours over there. If we have 8 hours here in the District, how 
 are we going to compete with them ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. I want you to understand that Baltimore is the worst 
 organized city in the United States. We have been working for 15 
 years to get some regulation, and we have only been successful in the 
 last year in getting a 10-hour day for women, but we expect the next 
 legislature, in 1914, to pass an 8-hour law, the same as we are trying 
 to get it here. I want to say that I do not believe that there are 
 very many people in Washington that will go to Baltimore to buy, 
 because I believe Washington has better skilled help than Baltimore, 
 and I do not believe the poor man who is getting $9 or $10 a week is 
 going to jump on the cars and go to Baltimore when he wants to 
 buy a pair of shoes. I want to say also that organized labor will 
 work with the merchants, but it will not work with them if they are 
 going to take the lives of the women and girls that work in the stores 
 and factories. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. There is just one question I would like to ask the 
 gentleman. What would be the effect, in your opinion, on the ste- 
 nographers, the 100 stenographers that you represent, if this bill 
 became a law, and the men stenographers in the city of Washing- 
 ton could work as long as they always could and night work too, 
 wouldn't that result in the ladies not being able to get as much work 
 as they now do? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. Seventy-five per cent of our girls work 7 hours a day 
 now. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. They could not work overtime, no matter how 
 badly they might be needed. Suppose a lawyer had an employee in 
 his office, a woman that had been there a long time, and he had an 
 important brief to get, up at night, which he could not intrust to 
 anyone else, under this law he would not be able to employ that 
 woman. He simply could not under this law. Now, under those 
 circumstances, wouldn't he feel like replacing her as soon as possible 
 with a man who was not affected by the law ? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. It is the same old story, double your shift; get two 
 stenographers instead of one. 
 
 The Chairman. Is there anything further? 
 
 Mr. Sterne. No, sir; thank you. 
 
 STATEMENT OF D. F. MANNING, 1524 EIGHTH STREET, NW., 
 REPRESENTING THE RETAIL CLERKS' UNION. 
 
 Mr. Manning. Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the committee, 
 it was not the intention of the retail clerks' union, which I have the 
 honor to represent, to take up your time in presenting arguments or 
 reasons why such a just, worthy, and humane bill should be enacted 
 into law. We felt that the cause o,f the retail clerks of our city could 
 be well and ably taken care of by our good friends, the ladies com- 
 posing the consumers' league, who are responsible for the introduc- 
 tion of this bill, and to whom should be given great credit for their 
 untiring efforts and zeal to promote the well-being, safeguard and 
 protect the health of the female employees of our city. 
 
 We realized that to enter into protracted hearings and discussions 
 ®f this subject might be the earnest desire of the opponents of this 
 
I0URS OF LABOK FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 133 
 
 iill, in the hope that by this method its favorable consideration, 
 indorsement, and passage would be prevented at this session of Con- 
 
 fess. 
 
 In view, however, of the reported statement of one of the worthy 
 rentlemen opposing this measure, who is also an employer of quite 
 , number of females, to the effect " that not a single clerk or employee 
 n any retail, mercantile establishment in Washington was interested 
 n the bill, or desired its passage," we have felt compelled to present 
 iur views on this very important proposed legislation. The members 
 if our association could not afford, and do not propose that this 
 tatement be placed in the record unchallenged or undisputed. 
 
 We concede the right of any employer, or body of employers, to 
 heir opinion or conviction on matters of this character, but we ques- 
 ion their right to speak for the clerks or employees, or the correct- 
 less of their information when they state " that not a single clerk or 
 mployee in any retail mercantile establishment in Washington was 
 nterested in the bill or desired its passage." Permit me to say that 
 he union I represent, composed of nearly 400 employees in the retail 
 tores, selling clothing, shoes, dry goods, etc., have previously, at 
 heir regular meetings, unanimously indorsed this, as well as a com- 
 >anion bill introduced in the Senate by Senator La Follette. The 
 central Labor Union of Washington, composed of representatives 
 if 70-odd various industrial organizations, with a total member- 
 hip of approximately 25,000, after due deliberation and considera- 
 ion, has also unanimously indorsed these bills, and in addition to 
 hese indorsements the executive council of the American Federation 
 f Labor, representing 2,000,000 organized wage earners of our coun- 
 ry, after careful and painstaking investigation, has likewise given 
 heir unanimous approval to these measures. 
 
 Lest there be any misunderstanding as to our right to speak in 
 ehalf of the employees of the retail mercantile establishments of our 
 ity, our union, composed of all nationalities, creeds, and opinions, 
 lakes the assertion that since its organization, more than 15 years 
 go, it has been responsible for the institution and successful estab- 
 tsbment of any and every general early closing or shorter-hour 
 eform which has been brought about in the retail trade. In years 
 one by, when it was a rule rather than the exception that retail 
 tores of Washington opened early in the morning and closed late 
 fc night, till midnight on Saturdays, with a half-day's work on Sun- 
 ay in many instances, our union was the first to espouse the cause 
 f the underpaid and overworked retail clerk. In the early years of 
 ur organization it was no uncommon custom for clerks to report at 
 
 o'clock in the morning, work daily until 7, 8, and half-past 8 in 
 le evening for the first 5 days of the week, and invariably midnight 
 n Saturdays. In addition to this, we were also required in many 
 istances to' work one-half day on Sundays, and nearly all legal holi- 
 ays. Since that time, however, through the continued efforts of 
 ir union, we have been successful in reducing the hours of labor dur- 
 tg the week days and on Saturdays, eliminating to the minimum 
 ork on Sundays and legal holidays. 
 
 It might be interesting to your committee to know that up until a 
 !W years back the' retail mercantile establishments of Washington, 
 icluding nearly all the large department stores, kept, open from 8 
 . the morning until 11 and 11.30 on Saturday nights, and 6 o'clock 
 
134 HOUES OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 in most instances being the rule during the week days. Our union, . 
 true to its concepts, and in accordance with its avowed purposes and , 
 declaration of principles, inaugurated a campaign for the improve- . 
 ment of conditions of our salespeople, and it affords me much pleas- . 
 ure to say that after years of sacrifice and toil and the expenditure 
 of large sums of money we have been successful through the kind : 
 and generous cooperation of the shopping public in reducing the ; 
 hours of labor, so that to-day few if any of the reputable establish- 
 ments of our city employing any great number of women require 
 their employees to work later than 6 p. m. on week days and 9 p. m. 
 on Saturday nights. In addition to this, through our campaign of 
 agitation and education, it has been made possible for many of our 
 mercantile establishments during the winter months to open at 8.30 
 a. m. and close at, 5.30 in the evenings on week days, and in the sum- 
 mer months to close at 5 p. m. on week days and 6 p. m. on Satur- 
 days. There are, in addition, quite a number of uptown stores which 
 close at 1 o'clock Saturday during the summer months. While I am 
 no prophet, nor am I disclosing any confidences, I feel absolutely 
 assured that our continued agitation and education, coupled with 
 the awakened public conscience, brought about through the considera- 
 tion and discussion of this measure, will see in the very near future, 
 perhaps nearer than we realize, the closing of our department stores 
 at 6 o'clock during the entire year. 
 
 I can but very poorly express the feelings of the members of my 
 union as to the justice and importance of this humane legislation. 
 In my humble opinion there need be no stronger nor appropriate 
 reasons for its passage than the arguments of its opponents, who, 
 in their misguided zeal and biased opinion can see no good in the 
 legislation, which perchance might disarrange their present methods 
 of doing business. The apparent selfish, personal, and ulterior mo- 
 tives of this opposition is so plain that it needs no comment from 
 me. I believe your committee is fully capable, and has had sufficient 
 experience in matters of this kind, to differentiate between the 
 opposition to a method and the opposition to a principle. I have 
 no hesitancy in believing that the members of this committee, who 
 have patiently listened to the statements of the various individuals 
 appearing before you, are thoroughly conversant with the situation 
 of the mercantile establishments in Washington, and are fully com- 
 petent and capable of passing judgment upon the statements made 
 that this proposed measure is a bad and vicious piece of legislation, 
 and should not be enacted into law. That it should be approved 
 is the almost universal opinion of those who have given it any 
 measure of consideration. If enacted into law it will not, unques- 
 tionably, as some of its opponents seem to think, drive the retail 
 merchants out of business; it will not be a burden upon the retail 
 salesladies ; it will not have the effect of reducing the earning power 
 of our retail clerks. True, it might prove a source of inconvenience 
 for a time, but in the end it will serve the purpose of affording the 
 greatest good to the greatest number, which is certainly in accord 
 with our American institutions and form of Government. 
 
 After all is said and done, in the final analysis of this proposition, 
 it is merely a question of arrangement between the merchant and his 
 employees. When our union took up the early-closing proposition 
 
[OURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 135 
 
 ; was proclaimed that it was impossible to close their establishments 
 t 9 o'clock Saturday nights ; that it would be their ruination if they 
 losed at 5 o'clock during the week days; yet, notwithstanding these 
 rotestations, the merchants in some sections of the city, whose 
 laces of business were kept open at late hours at night, on Sundays, 
 nd holidays are now closing at the early hours referred to above, 
 nd it has been our experience that these self-same merchants, not- 
 dthstanding their shorter hours and improved conditions, are 
 oing more business, are getting better results from a more satisfied 
 it of employees, and are more thoroughly satisfied themselves than 
 nder the old regime ; so much so, in fact, that some of these self-same 
 lerchants have stated that under no circumstances would they return 
 ) the old conditions. As I say. it is all a matter of arrangement, 
 ad as a matter of further information to the committee I incorpo- 
 ite herewith a copy of a letter which was addressed to our union 
 uring its campaign to close the mercantile establishments at an 
 irlier hour on Saturday nights : 
 
 June 31, 1900. 
 
 (Secretary Retail Clerks' Union, Washington. 
 Deab Sir: Your favor to hand, and has had our thoughtful consideration. 
 Tien we signed the agreement to close at 9 o'clock we stipulated in writing 
 jposite our signature " provided all other concerns do likewise," and we further 
 )ecified "in view of the fact that we are a department house, that clothing 
 ores, hatters, and furnishers were included." 
 
 We were the first to observe the understanding, and have acted in good faith, 
 id it is still our intention to do so, provided your organization keeps its agree- 
 ent with us, namely, to see to it that other concerns are placed on the same 
 lOting, as it is unfair and unjust to discriminate, which you know is being done, 
 ! competing houses on the Avenue are open and getting the benefit of our early 
 osing. It is not an unusual sight to see certain stores — whose names it is need- 
 ss for us to mention, as they are well known to you — crowded from 9 o'clock 
 itil midnight. Do you call that keeping faith, and do you think it good form 
 
 call our attention to the violation of agreement? We had concluded to call 
 tention to this matter and are therefore glad that you anticipated us, but if it 
 
 your impression that we are going to remain silent and look on while our 
 mpetitors keep their establishments open you are simply under a misappre- 
 snsion. 
 
 We heartily favor the early closing and are perfectly willing to continue it, 
 it the other stores — and we refer principally to the Avenue — have to do like- 
 ise, and if you fail in securing their cooperation you fail with the rest. The 
 ajority of dealers are anxious to reopen on this account and are simply wait- 
 g for us to lead, which we have refused to do, but unless the matter receives 
 mr early attention you will discover a break in the ranks. 
 
 (Signed) . 
 
 Merchant. 
 
 The above letter, which is self-explanatory, was received from one of 
 ir leading mercantile establishments. It is sufficient to say that this 
 me establishment is now closing promptly at 6 o'clock during the week 
 id at 9 oclock Saturday nights, and during the summer months (and 
 draw your attention to the fact that this complaint was lodged dur- 
 g the summer months) this establishment closes at 5 o'clock on week 
 ys and 6 o'clock on Saturday nights. It is, to my mind at least, 
 jarly demonstrated that where there is a will there is a way, and the 
 ;ter is incorporated herewith solely for the purpose of proving that 
 
 sertion. 
 
 As a matter of further information for the committee, I desire to 
 
 id you an article from the Ketail Clerks' International Advocate, 
 
136 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN" THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 the official journal of the Retail Clerks' International Association, of 
 which my union is a part. 
 
 Now getting back to the proposed 8-hour work day for women in 
 our mercantile establishments, I can state positively from direct first- 
 hand information, that the proprietors or managers of a majority of 
 our largest department stores absolutely are not opposed to this bill, 
 and I can further state from positive knowledge that the sales people 
 of these self-same large department storesj approximating 2,000 in 
 number, are desirous of having this legislation passed, feeling that it 
 would be a great help and benefit to them. In talking to the pro- 
 prietors and managers of these department stores, not a single one 
 has expressed opposition to the bill, whereas one of the largest em- 
 ployers of our female sales people expressed the hope that it would 
 be adopted. To use the expression of these merchants, and I might 
 say in passing that these self-same merchants are members of the 
 Retail Merchants' Association, whom it has been stated are pledged 
 to oppose this bill, they propose to remain neutral; they state that 
 they will not oppose the adoption of this bill, nor will they consti- 
 tute themselves a lobby, or adopt any other method to secure its de- 
 feat, although they frankly admit that they have been importuned 
 to appear in opposition to the measure, and some even have been 
 asked if they would donate funds to be used in defraying the neces- 
 sary expenses of the campaign of opposition. These various depart- 
 ment store proprietors and managers, without exception, are content 
 to leave the entire matter to the best judgment of this committee and 
 the Members of Congress. They say that if the bill is enacted and 
 becomes a law, they will govern themselves accordingly. The only 
 drawback or hardship which they anticipate, would be the disar- 
 rangement of their present method of doing business, and the conse- 
 quent confusion in the establishment of a system which would meet 
 the requirements of this law ; and this is purely speculative. 
 
 Now, just a few words in connection with the wages paid sales- 
 ladies in our department stores and retail establishments. If I 
 understood correctly, the representative from the Department of 
 Commerce and Labor gave the average earnings of saleswomen as 
 $6.36 per week, while the pay roll submitted to her would indicate 
 an average of $6.55 per week. I have no desire to controvert that 
 statement. Her sources of information may have enabled her to 
 secure correct data on this subject. Our union, however, not long 
 since, having this question under consideration and investigation, re- 
 ferred the matter to a special committee, who reported the average 
 wages paid retail salesladies as four dollars and seventy-odd cents, 
 as well as I can remember. This, however, included salesladies only, 
 not heads of departments or buyers. 
 
 The sources of the information furnished the committee, I am 
 unable to vouch for. We have endeavored to secure correct infor- 
 mation in this respect, even so far as adopting a law in our union, 
 which stipulated that members receiving less than a certain wage, 
 should pay a certain amount of dues per month; other members re- 
 ceiving over and above that stipulated wage should pay so much more 
 dues per month. To entitle a member to be classed in a lower rate of 
 dues, we required that such member must present a statement in 
 writing that they receive less than the stipulated salary. This 
 
:OURS OP LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 137 
 
 lethod was adopted for the twofold purpose of endeavoring to as- 
 irtain the amount of wages paid as well as to avoid making it bur- 
 ensome on our members who received a small salary. In endeav- 
 ring to follow out this law and secure the desired information, we 
 ere invariably met with the statement that such member or mem- 
 ers were prohibited from stating the salary received; that the 
 mount paid in salary was confidential between the employer and em- 
 loye, and under no circumstances could the amount of wage received 
 e divulged. And in this connection permit me to say that it has 
 een my experience that very few of our sales people received 
 dequate wages for labor performed. In seeking work it is not a 
 uestion of how much can they get, but how little will they take, 
 aid in this connection it might be a matter of information to this 
 onunittee to know that under existing conditions in Washington to- 
 lay, no merchant will hire or employ a clerk who, at that time, is 
 mployed in another retail establishment; the statement of some 
 f the opponents to this bill to the contrary notwithstanding. There 
 5 said to be a " gentlemen's " agreement, which has been in existence 
 or years, which makes it a rule prohibiting one employer from tak- 
 ng the services of an employe from another employer. The retail 
 lerk must be out of employment before their services will be ac- 
 :eptable to the merchant who desires such services. The purpose of 
 uch a " gentlemen's " agreement is so apparent that I hardly believe 
 t requires any extended explanation on my part. I am satisfied that 
 he intelligence of this committee is sufficient to fathom and analyze 
 ts motive. 
 
 . Mr. Manning. Now, I had intended, Mr. Chairman, to include 
 i more detailed statement as to wages, but I feel that the committee 
 las had sufficient enlightenment on that. As I stated in starting out, 
 t was our intention to leave the entire matter to the committee. So 
 nany statements have been made that not a single representative of 
 ;he clerks was in favor of the bill or advocated it, that I wanted our 
 uiion to take a position and go on record that they were in favor of 
 t. I want to file, Mr. Chairman, a little paper that I prepared, 
 showing the hours of employment in some of the large retail estab- 
 ishments. . 
 
 The Chaibman. From what source is the table drawn ( 
 
 Mr. Manning. Both from employees and employers. We attempt- 
 id to get it from employers, and where they would give it I used it. 
 Where I could not get it from the employers I took the word ot 
 the employees. . , 
 
 The Chaieman. Does the table itself show the address o± employees 
 mi which the table is based and the address of the establishments 
 ipon which it is based? 
 
 Mr Manning No; it just enumerates the establishments. It 
 mmes them individually, taking them as the representatives, the 
 largest establishments. I do not suppose that these establishments 
 would have any objection to having this published. And it there 
 Is anv objection the names could be eliminated. , 
 
 The Chaieman. Without objection it will be included in the rec- 
 >rd, and the committee will determine later whether it will permit 
 the use of the name of the particular establishments. 
 
138 HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMENMN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
 
 Palais Royal: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 Woodward & Lothrop: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 S. Kann Sons & Co.: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 Lansburgh & Bro.: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 Garftnkle: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 Hecht & Co.: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 Kings Palace: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 Goldenberg's: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Busy season 
 
 Hahn's shoe store: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Berberioh's Shoe Store. 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Family Shoe Store: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Saks & Co.: 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Parker, Bridgett & Co. 
 
 Winter season 
 
 Summer season 
 
 Week days. 
 
 •a a 
 
 £^-° 
 o 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 
 s.oo 
 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 
 8.00 
 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 S.OO 
 8.00 
 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 
 0.00 
 
 5.30 
 5.00 
 0.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 6.00 
 
 5.30 
 5.00 
 COO 
 
 0.00 
 5.30 
 
 6.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 6.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 6.00 
 
 0.00 
 5.00 
 6.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 5.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 
 6.00 
 5.00 
 
 I 
 i 
 
 1.00 
 1.00 
 1.00 
 
 1.00 
 1.00 
 1.00 
 
 3 
 i 
 i 
 
 1.00 
 1.00 
 
 i 
 i 
 
 1.00 
 1.00 
 
 Saturday. 
 
 13 
 
 O 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 S.OO 
 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 8.00 
 8.00 
 
 •I 3 
 
 6.00 
 1.00 
 6.00 
 
 5.30 
 1.00 
 6.00 
 
 9.00 
 0.00 
 9.00 
 
 9.00 
 6.00 
 9.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 12.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 9.00 
 6.00 
 9.00 
 
 .00 9.00 or 9. 30 
 ;:00 9.00 or 9. 30 
 .00 9.00 or 9. 30 
 
 9.00 
 6.00 
 9.00 
 
 10.00 
 10.00 
 
 10.00 
 10.00 
 
 10.00 
 10.00 
 
 9.00 
 6.00 
 
 9.00 
 6.00 
 
 33 
 
 
 i 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 1.00 
 
 i.'oo 
 
 1.00 
 
 ...... 
 
 Hours per day, 
 
 
 8i 
 
 3 S~. 
 — c! 
 
 9 
 5 
 
 91 
 
 8i 
 
 5 
 
 91 
 
 11 
 95 
 111 
 
 10} 
 91 
 111 
 
 11 
 91 
 11* 
 
 111-12 
 111-12 
 111-12 
 
 11 
 91 
 
 Hi 
 
 12} 
 12} 
 
 12j 
 121 
 
 121 
 91 
 
 11 
 9 
 
 O 
 
 54 
 
 «i 
 57 
 
 41} 
 
 551 
 
 54} 
 501 
 57} 
 
 57} 
 
 54 
 46* 
 54' 
 
 50* 
 
 58" 
 
 56H7 
 511-62 
 56J-57 
 
 501 
 57} 
 
 59 
 
 54 
 
 571 
 
 52i 
 
 58} 
 43} 
 
 50J 
 
 56 
 49 
 
 Miss Obenauer. Mr. Chairman, there were some slight errors in 
 quoting some figures that I gave to the committee, but I am sure 
 that they are right in the record, and if you are willing I will take 
 up the time of the committee to make the correction now. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. I do not quite understand the reference the gentle- 
 man made there to the fund. Did I understand him to say that there 
 had been a fund that had been raised by the Retail Merchants' Asso- 
 ciation, or attempted to be raised, to oppose this bill ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. It sounded very much like that. 
 
 Mr. Manning. What I did say was that some of them informed me 
 that they had been asked if they would subscribe funds for a cam- 
 paign of opposition. 
 
 Mr. Andrews. I want to state, as acting president of the Retail 
 Merchants' Association, that my interest in this matter is nothing 
 personal at all, and, to the best of my knowledge, such a question has 
 not entered the mind of anyone who had anything to do with these 
 hearings or this bill. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 139 
 
 ^V™ wk * am simp I y giv ?^ that as a statement that was 
 made to me by the manager of one of our largest retail establishments 
 
 Mr. Andrews. Could you give me his name » wuiiwimenra. 
 
 Mr. Manning. I would not like to give the name 
 
 The Chairman. You can give Mr. Andrews the name if V ou 
 ;are to. J 
 
 Mr. Manning. Later on, if necessary, I can produce the name. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. These various labor organizations to which vou refer 
 is having gone on record indorsing this bill, were they comprised of 
 men or women ? r 
 
 Mr. Manning. Both. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Largely of men, were they not? 
 
 „¥m ™ A ^ N °[ G - ¥■ times there have been 1,100 women in the 
 Retail Clerks, but because of the fact that the wages they received 
 vrere so small— I refer to the retail and department stores— they were 
 compelled to drop their membership. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. What percentage is that of the total number? 
 
 Mr. Manning. You mean the employees in the retail stores ? 
 
 Mr. Sowers. The total number of members of your union— what 
 percentage of your membership is female? 
 
 Mr. Manning. I would be unable to state that offhand. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. The larger percentage are males, are they not ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. I would not say that they were. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Your union recognizes the fact that they are in com- 
 petition with the female classes, does it not? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. And they recognize that by reason of the enactment 
 )f this law they would be put in a fairer competition with the females. 
 Four unions demand an 8-hour day, and therefore, if this regulation . 
 ,vere enacted forbidding females to work longer than 8 hours, they 
 would be on a fairer basis of competition? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Our union demands an 8-hour law for male clerks. 
 f want to answer your question, but I do not know that I get it right. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. It is a fact that ycur unions demand an 8-hour day 
 n most lines, do they not ? , 
 
 Mr. Manning. In many industries they do In the retail trade, we 
 idvocate an 8-hour law, but by agreement we, at certain times of the 
 rear, allowed longer hours. We are now working 8 hours. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Ycu recognize that competition would be less sharp 
 f the females were put on the same basis and required to work only 
 ! hours, that that would give more places to the males? 
 
 Mr. Manning. I am, of course, speaking of the retail trade. It is 
 i fact that, if all things were equal, I believe the majority of em- 
 >loyees in retail establishments would be men. 
 
 The Chairman. By saying, " If all things were equal," you include 
 tt that the number of hours and wages paid? Both of those are 
 ticluded? Suppose they were equal, the tendency would be to em- 
 Joy males instead of females ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. What I had in mind was the fact that it is in- 
 ariably the case that women are employed in some departments and 
 wne industries because they will work for less money than men will, 
 hir union requires equal work requirements for both sexes. 
 Mr. Buchanan. There is no competition in the union, is there? 
 Mr. Manning. Oh, no. 
 
140 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Your union invites membership of women, do 
 they not? They have lady members, do they not? 
 
 Mr. Manning. We do more than that. We go out and beg them 
 to come in. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. So far as your organization is concerned, it is not 
 competition, the organization is for the purpose of improving the 
 condition of the lady clerks as well as the men ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Yes ; because the conditions apply equally to both. 
 The competition I referred to was between the cost of selling goods* 
 between the male and female help. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. Mr. Sowers asked you if you were in competition 
 there, and I thought you said you were. 
 
 Mr. Manning. Oh, no. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I think the witness understood that I referred to the 
 condition in the mercantile world in which the men are forbidden to 
 work longer than 8 hours by their unions, and the females, not being 
 under that restriction, have an advantage in securing positions over 
 the males. You understood I said that, did you not? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Yes. 
 
 The Chairman. In taking a stand for an 8-hour work day for 
 women, have you at any time taken that position because it might 
 result in the employment of a larger number of men ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. We have considered that and have arrived at the 
 conclusion that the less number of hours we work the more employ- 
 ment it gives to people who seek it. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. You think the same number of hours for women 
 that you do for men ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Yes; and the cash girls and cash boys; in fact, all 
 the employees, down to the fireman and engineer. I might say that 
 our agreement between the merchants and the union regulates the 
 conditions of employees in their establishment. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. In other words, you have the same agreement for 
 lady members that you do for men? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Yes. I might say, also, that in our new agreement 
 we have provided an 8-hour day covering certain periods of the year. 
 I might say, further, that in this table it shows that in many of the 
 very large mercantile establishments they are working less than 8 
 hours per day and they are managing to do their business all right. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I took it from Mr. Sowers's question that his posi- 
 tion is that through your organization you are trying to make it a 
 disadvantage for the ladies to work in competition with the men? 
 
 Mr. Manning. No; it was Mr. Sowers — he might have meant to 
 make such a statement as that. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. But you believe that by reason of this enactment a 
 great many females will be replaced by men? 
 
 Mr. Manning. No; I do not believe there would be a single one. 
 It has been my experience in handling these matters that the adop- 
 tion of the 5 o'clock closing during the summer months, and during 
 the entire months, that the shorter hours instead of proving a detri- 
 ment; instead of displacing female clerks it has had the tendency to 
 put more to work, to make employment for a greater number of both 
 men and women, in order to handle the increased volume of business. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I understand that if male and female alike were 
 forbidden alike to work longer than 8 hours that would be the 
 
SOUKS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 141 
 
 result, but if the men are allowed to work as long as they please 
 md the females are forbidden to work longer than 8 hours, don't 
 rou believe that in man}' cases where there was an extra hour and 
 i half required that men would be found more available, and would 
 3e retained under those conditions ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. I would like to say to Mr. Sowers that in our 
 unions we do not permit people to work as long as they please. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. If you do, do you not fine them for working over- 
 time ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. We prohibit them by agreement with the employ- 
 jrs. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In cases where they desire to work overtime, you 
 prohibit them, and impose a fine if they violate that prohibition, 
 lon't you ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. We have never had occasion to go that far. What 
 night occur, of course, I can not answer. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you know of any dry goods or grocerv stores 
 that are kept open here on Sunday ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Is that the practice in some sections of the city? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Absolutely; not only in the morning, but also at 
 light. Any time of day you can get any kind of an article you 
 wish. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you know of industries that work their men on 
 Sunday? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Leaving out the retail trade, of course. The Gov- 
 irnment institutions sometimes, I believe, work men on Sundays, 
 mt, generally speaking, I do not believe they do. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I am talking about institutions outside of Govern- 
 nent work. 
 
 Mr. Manning. They were working on the Kiggs Building last 
 Sunday. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. That is a case where they had a permit for work- 
 ng on Sunday. That is a special case. 
 
 Mr. Howard. They do work on Sunday sometimes? 
 
 Mr. Manning. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you know of any law in the District prohibiting 
 hat ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. No, sir. We have been endeavoring for 10 years 
 o secure the adoption of such a law. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I introduced one a year and a half ago, but it never 
 pt anywhere. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan. I would like to say, in regard to overtime on 
 •uilding construction work, that they generally pay double time 
 or Sunday. work and holiday work, and that, in ^tself , is an evi- 
 tence of emergency existing, because it costs so much more to do 
 he work. 
 
 Mr. Manning. While we are on this question, we have Capt. Estes 
 ere, representing the District government as an inspector of child- 
 ibor conditions, and he is better able to give you specific informa- 
 on on this than anyone else in the District. 
 
 The Chairman. The committee will have to adjourn. There are a 
 umber of others here, I understand, who want to be heard by the 
 Mnmittee, but we will be unable to hear Capt. Estes this morning. 
 
142 HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 If there are no objections, we will adjourn until 9.30 to-morrow 
 morning. 
 
 Bight-Hour Law for Women in California. 
 
 seventy-five ter cent of the employers are in favor of the reduction of 
 the hours of labor for women as aiding in their efficiency great bene- 
 fit to workers. 
 
 The S-hour law for women is a boon not only to all women employed, but 
 to the employers of women. 
 
 This is the gist of a report on labor conditions in California prepared by the 
 hureau of labor statistics for Gov. Hiram W. Johnson, so that he may have 
 accurate information with which to meet the tremendous influence that will 
 be brought to bear to have the law repealed at the next session of the legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 The report, more than 4,000 words long, was drafted from figures furnished 
 by 18 competent investigators, and deals with the period of six months ending 
 January 1, 1912. 
 
 During the investigations the men visited hundreds of places where women 
 are employed all over the State, and talked to thousands of employed women. 
 In addition to obtaining information on the 8-hour law for women they in- 
 vestigated conditions affected by every State law on labor, and obtained much 
 information that will aid in the passing of laws dealing with phases of the 
 labor situation not yet legislated for. 
 
 Some of the most specific findings are : 
 
 Less than a dozen women have been discharged as a result of the enforce- 
 ment of the law. 
 
 There has been practically no reduction of wages following the shortening 
 of hours. 
 
 Women do as much now in 8 hours as they formerly did in 8J or 9. 
 
 Seventy-five per cent of the employers of women do not object to the law. 
 
 Of the remainder, 20 per cent object to the 8-hour a day provision, but not 
 to the 48-hour a week clause. 
 
 Less than 5 per cent of the employers of women are lined up strongly against 
 the law. 
 
 The operation of the law has increased, rather than diminished, the oppor- 
 tunity for women to obtain employment. 
 
 Opposition to the law was founded for the most part on preconceived er- 
 roneous ideas as to its effect. 
 
 "A great deal of comment," reads the report in part, " was made by both 
 prominent persons and the press as to the effect of the 8-hour law upon the 
 economic conditions of the women themselves and upon business in general, 
 In order to ascertain whether there was any merit in these contentions, our 
 special agents were instructed to ask the following questions from each estab- 
 lishment employing women : 
 
 "First. Have any women been discharged as a result of the S-hour law? 
 
 " Second. Have the wages of women been reduced? 
 
 " Third. Statements of views of the employer on the 8-hour law. 
 
 " Fourth. Statement of views of the women on the 8-hour law. 
 
 " While our work along this line is not yet complete, the answers obtained 
 in over 2,000 establishments employing women up to January 1 show that less 
 than a dozen women have been actually discharged on account of the 8-hour 
 law. Further, that there has been practically no reduction of wages even in 
 the case of women doing piecework. We were informed that these women 
 accomplished as much in 8 hours as they did formerly in 8$ and 9 hours. The 
 majority of employers informed us that they accomplish more' in a shorter 
 period of time. 
 
 "Over 75 per cent of the employers of women stated that they had no ob- 
 jection to offer against the law, while about 20 per cent stated that they had no 
 objection to the 48-hour a week law, but were opposed to a strict S-hour a day 
 law. This objection was based principally upon the inconvenience caused in 
 office departments around the first of the month. Less than 5 per cent voiced 
 any opposition to the 8-hour law. Numerous statements appeared that women 
 were being displaced by men. In our investigation we have run across only 
 two or three instances of this kind. 
 
 "While, as stated before, our work is not yet complete, I believe that our 
 investigation will show that the 8-hour law has not driven women out of in- 
 
HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 143 
 
 flustrial ranks, but, on the contrary, that it has furnished employment for a 
 greater number of women." . 
 
 The substance on the finding on holiday trade conditions is: "The law was 
 an inconvenience during the season of 1911 because it necessitated a radical 
 change from the method of handling the Christmas trade heretofore. In almost 
 all cases conditions were met successfully. Though a general increase, in gross 
 cost of selling, of from 2$ to 10 per cent, was experienced, it was compensated 
 for in a large measure by an increase of from 15 to 20 per cent in the volume 
 of trade. 
 
 "If the women shoppers, who should be in sympathy with the law, will at- 
 tempt to do their shopping at hours convenient to the storekeepers, no difficulty 
 will be experienced during the rush season to come. 
 
 "The bitter minority," said Henry H. Lyon, assistant deputy labor com- 
 missioner, "is preparing to make a desperate fight to have the law repealed at 
 the next session of the legislature, and this is onr answer to them." 
 
 Committee on Labor, 
 House of Representatives, 
 
 Wednesday, February 12, 1913. 
 The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. William B. Wilson 
 (chairman) presiding. 
 
 The Chairman. We will hear from Mr. Roberts this morning. 
 Mr. Roberts, give us your name and address. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. W. F. ROBERTS, PRESIDENT OF THE W. F. 
 
 ROBERTS CO. 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Mr. Chairman, I am W. F. Roberts, president of the 
 W. F. Roberts Co., in the printing and engraving business at 1413 
 New York Avenue. I have in my employ 27 women. I will state 
 first that the requirements of my business often call for extra work. 
 There are a great many occasions when work is not coming into our 
 office until 4 or 5 o'clock in the day. Five o'clock is our quitting 
 time. It is work of the utmost importance, and it requires that we 
 keep some of the help to finish it up that night. We very fre- 
 quently have papers concerning decisions, mandamus proceedings,, 
 md briefs that come along, and the work has to be done during the 
 light. Our regular hours of work are eight, and the girls who work 
 m this work receive a 50 per cent increase for the overtime that they 
 ivork. 
 
 The Chairman. That is, they are paid a time and a half ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. For overtime ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. I have consulted a number of girls in my 
 )ffice about how they felt about this 8-hour law, and I find that they 
 ire really very anxious to get the extra money. Frequently we call 
 ! or a number of girls to work — that is, we only require four or five— 
 ind there are always more volunteers than are required to do the 
 fork. I find that out of the 27 girls in my employ one-third of them 
 re in families where there is neither father, brother, nor husband. 
 ?hey are really in menless families. One woman works in the bind- 
 ry at a dollar and a half a day, supporting her mother, sister, and 
 ister's child. That woman has been in my employ for quite a num- 
 er of years. She is not an expert workwoman by any means, and 
 i a case of that kind it would be a great hardship for the reason 
 
144 HOURS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 that on account of the exigencies of the business that I am in I would 
 have to dispense with that woman's labor. You see, there is a great 
 deal of competition in this city, and a man in business can not afford 
 to let the other man beat him out on anything where time is an 
 adjunct. 
 
 The Chairman. What is the difference in the rate of pay that you 
 pay to men as compared with women in your line of business ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Well, in my office merit counts, and there is very lit- 
 tle difference in pay. I have men working for me who are getting 
 $12 to $35 a week. I have women working who are getting from $6 
 to $28.80 a week. 
 
 The Chairman. In the bindery 
 
 Mr. Eoberts (interposing). No, sir. 
 
 The Chairman (continuing). Is the work entirely day work 
 there? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. The bindery is really the place where we require the 
 extra help more than we do in the other departments, for the reason 
 that after the compositors and pressmen have finished up their work 
 the finishing touches are put on in the bindery. 
 
 The Chairman. That is all day work ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. No, sir ; it is not. That is where we require the over- 
 time. 
 
 The Chairman. You pay so much per day instead of so much per 
 piece ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. Is it principally women who are employed in the 
 bindery ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes; I have several men there to do the heavy work — 
 cutting and lifting. 
 
 The Chairman. What are the men paid ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. $3 a day. They are helpers. One gets $12 a week. 
 
 The Chairman. What are the women paid ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. The women are paid from $6 to $12. Pardon me, I 
 should have said from $7.50 a day in the bindery to $12. Of course, 
 I was thinking of the bundle wrappers who are working in the stores 
 at $6. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you think that the difference in the hours of 
 labor that would be necessitated by this bill for the women would 
 overcome the difference in the wages that you would have to pay for 
 men, as compared with the women ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. I would not put high-priced men at the work that the 
 women are doing now. I would train in boys to do that. On ac- 
 count of the competition we could not afford to put in men to do that 
 work. 
 
 The Chairman. Does not it require considerable skill in the 
 bindery ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. No ; not so much skill as deftness of hand, and I want 
 to say that the women are usually more deft. 
 
 The Chairman. And that requires the training of the fingers as 
 well as the brain to do that work? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. I have no machine folder in my office and 
 if I did not have the girls, I would have to put in a folder because one 
 folder would do the work of a number of girls. 
 
POUKS OF LABOE FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 141 
 
 The Chairman. Is there any further statement that you desire t< 
 make? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. No, sir; except that I just wish to impress upon yoi 
 that on account of the exigencies of the business I would possibl; 
 have to dispense with a good deal of the woman labor that I have 
 which I would very much regret to do on account of the statemen 
 that I have just made that they are the sole support of their families 
 They have no men to appeal to. 
 
 The Chairman. That is, one-third of them? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. One-third of them in my office. I asked the girls ti 
 appoint one or two of their number to come up here and appear be 
 fore you but they were reluctant and timid and asked me to come. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. You are opposed to this bill in its present form? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. In its present form, for this reason: That there ar 
 no exceptions. In California, I think, there is an 8-hour law fo 
 women but there are exceptions for businesses where emergency worl 
 is done. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Suppose this bill could be amended to provide for I 
 hours in 10 or in 20? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Well, let me see now. Eight hours in 10. No, sir 
 that would hardly fill the bill, sir, because frequently we have to worl 
 until 12 or 1 o'clock at night. Well, not frequently but often. Yot 
 know that sometimes work comes into a printing office that require: 
 work straight through. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. How many hours are they employed ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Oh, sometimes they work 10 or 12 hours. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Out of the 24? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Out of the 24. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. What time do they begin work in the morning? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. 8.30. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. What time do they usually stop work ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. 12.30. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. When they work overtime it is until 12 and 1 o'clocl 
 at night ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. That does not happen very often. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. If that were so. they would work 15 or 16 hours. 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Well, as I stated, the final touches to the work an 
 put on in the bindery, and the girls are kept there rather than b 
 sent home. They can lie down, take a nap, and read. We jus 
 want to be able to call on them. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. You would object to any limit on the number o 
 hours? You want the right to employ them at any hour that the; 
 would be willing to work ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Well, I think a fair limit would be 12 o clock a 
 night. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Twelve o'clock at night ? 
 
 TVTt* "Rorfrts Y"gs sir. 
 
 The Chairman. That is, to begin at 8 o'clock, or whatever th 
 time was for starting in the morning, and continue until 12 o clocl 
 at night ? . -, 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Well, not on a continuous stretch— not m my ottice- 
 because we lay them off and let them take a nap. 
 
 78634r— 13 30 
 
146 HOURS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Chairman. Speaking of a legal limitation as to when the 
 work should cease, you want the privilege of beginning your work 
 in your establishment at 8.30 and continuing through, if your busi- 
 ness required it, until 12 o'clock at night? » 
 
 Mr. Roberts. That is difficult for me to answer. I can easily see 
 that if the law was so worded it might be abused by some persons. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. You have that right now ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Provided the employees are willing? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir; we have that right now, but I am speaking 
 of the limitations of the bill. I will admit that some persons will 
 abuse the law because in that event they might feel they could keep 
 the girls at work all the time, but now that they are perfectly free 
 they are more liberal with their employees. 
 
 The Chairman. Do you think that you could regulate your estab- 
 lishment so that no rush work could be hurried through ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. A customer is the buyer and a mighty hard man to 
 control. 
 
 The Chairman. And your business with the customer is to get the 
 best trade at the best prices you can ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. If your competitor is in the same position in 
 which you are and the customer is not able to get any better terms 
 from your competitor, then he is just as likely to deal with you. 
 What objection would you have to the limitation of this bill? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. There would be no objection except that I would 
 try to beat out the other fellow by getting all men. and I think the 
 most of them would try the same thing if I retained the women. 
 
 The Chairman. You have your theory, and that is that it will 
 lead to the dismissal of the women that are employed and the em- 
 ployment of men in their stead? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. That is the only reason I am here now. 
 
 The Chairman. You do not think the increased cost of securing 
 men would offset that? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Xo, sir ; I would offset that by putting in machinery 
 to do the folding. 
 
 The Chairman. Some of your competitors use machinery for 
 doing the folding now. 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir; but they do a little different work from 
 what I do now. I run an office where there are not many big runs, 
 over 25,000 copies or something like that. I really make little or no 
 attempt to get that kind of work. 
 
 The Chairman. So that vour folding work is principally done by 
 hand? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. It is all done by hand. 
 
 The Chairman. That is not a very usual condition in the printing 
 establishments in the city of Washington, is it? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. No, sir; it is not. I think only about three offices in 
 this city have folding machines; a large majority of them are folded 
 by hand, because folding work is not steady work in a printing 
 office. There are a great many girls in the other offices who respond 
 to calls from other offices. I mean girls who work in two or three 
 printing offices. 
 
HOUES OF LABOB FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 147 
 
 The Chairman. That is, you have folding to do now and you em- 
 ploy those girls and you get them to do your work, and immediately 
 thereafter some other printing establishment has some folding work 
 to do and they employ the same girls, and immediately aftei-wards 
 pother establishment has some folding work to do and they get in 
 their folding work by the same girls? 
 Mr. Roberts. That is it. 
 The Chairman. Any other questions? 
 
 Mr. Stern. You say you will educate boys to do the work. What 
 ages? 
 Mr. Roberts The ages provided by the laws of the country 
 Mr. Stern. May I ask you if you have members of organized labor 
 employed in your establishment? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. I have not. Mr. Chairman, now that that question 
 has been asked. I will state that for 30 years I employed organized 
 labor, and in 1906 they walked out of mv office in a body* and I 
 immediately provided other forces and haA r e so carried on the office 
 Some of those men who walked out of mv office had been emploved 
 by me for 15 or 16 years. " 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I would like to ask Mr. Roberts a question. These 
 conditions of which you speak, where you worked possibly as late 
 as 12 or 1 o'clock at night, do not occur very often ? 
 Mr. Roberts. Very seldom. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Possibly not more than once a week ? 
 Mr. Roberts. Oh, no ; once or twice a month. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Then, would you not be agreeable to an amendment 
 providing 54 or 60 hours a week? Would not that permit you to 
 work a long or a short day ? 
 Mr. Roberts. That would restrict the labor to 9 hours a day. 
 Mr. Sowers. If it was 60 hours a week it would be 10 hours a day. 
 Mr. Roberts. Xo. For regular work I do not believe in it. I 
 believe in 8 hours a day. But I am speaking only for urgent work 
 that is x required without notice. 
 The Chairman. You think that in emergencies you ought to be 
 .permitted to work overtime? 
 Mr. Roberts. I do, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. You or the manager of the establishment having 
 the right to determine what constitutes an emergency ? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. No; the emergency is created by the customer, Mr. 
 Chairman, and I try to comply with his wants. 
 
 The Chairman. But finally the question of whether it constitutes 
 an emergency or does not constitute an emergency would be in the 
 judgment of the manager. Your customer could not compel you to 
 run your establishment if you did not want to run your establishment. 
 So that the final determination of whether or not an emergency ex- 
 isted would, in your judgment, remain with the manager? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes; it would. But if I applied it to a customer 
 he would never come back. 
 
 The Chairman. Your fear of losing the customer would be one of 
 the inducements to cause you to decide that it was an emergency ? 
 Mr. Roberts. I think it would. 
 
 The Chairman. But vcju would be the party to decide? 
 Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. 
 
148 HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Fakren. Is not there considerable of your work now going to 
 Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. What do you mean by my work ? 
 
 Mr. Farren. Printing work— bank checks and things of that kind? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. No, sir ; I take no orders whatever except what I can 
 fill in my office. 
 
 Mr. Farren. No ; I do not mean that you send it there, but I mean, 
 does not the customer in Washington have considerable printing 
 work in New York or Philadelphia? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. Oh, yes; I can speak on that. 
 
 Mr. Farren. You are in competition with New York? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. With New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Waynes- 
 boro and several other outlying towns. Several years ago I was 
 on a committee of a board of trade to look into that matter and it 
 was really ascertained that nearly 50 per cent of the printing is done 
 on the outside. 
 
 The Chairman. Does not Washington also do some printing for 
 outside cities? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. To what extent I do not know, but in my office 
 I have had printing for outside cities. I do a very small amount of 
 it for New York and some for Boston. They are principally persons 
 who have resided in this city and have transferred their residence 
 to other places. In my engraving department I think I have sent 
 work into every State in the United States nearly every month in the 
 year. 
 
 Mr. Farren. I have had quotations from Niagara Falls for print- 
 ing, 35 cents as against 50 cents in Washington. I just happen to have 
 a bill on my desk now from a Washington printer for 75 cents as 
 against 38 at Niagara Falls, although my printing is all done in 
 Washington by union labor, but those are the prices that have been 
 quoted at Niagara Falls and Conshohocken, Pa., and bank checks have 
 the mark " New York Printing office. '" 
 
 The Chairman. Anything further? 
 
 Mr. Roberts. No, sir. Mr. Chairman, I am very much obliged 
 to you. 
 
 STATEMENT OF CAPT. CHARLES C. ESTES, METROPOLITAN POLICE 
 DEPARTMENT, INSPECTOR OF CHILD LABOR IN THE DISTRICT 
 OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Chairman. Captain, give us your name and address and your 
 position. 
 
 Capt. Estes. Charles C. Estes, 1339 Irving Street NW., Washing- 
 ton, D. C., member of the Metropolitan police department, detailed as 
 inspector of child labor in the District of Columbia. 
 
 The Chairman. Captain, the bill we have pending before us now, 
 the Peters 8-hour bill, makes a provision excluding the employment 
 of females under 18 years of age, I believe, before the hour of 7 
 o'clock in the morning and after the hour of 6 o'clock in the evening. 
 In your work in connection with the enforcement of the child-labor 
 law, will you tell the committee what in your judgment the effect of 
 that provision would be? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Mr. Chairman, my work has been limited to the minor 
 under 16 years of age, both male and female, but while doing that 
 
HOUBS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 149 
 
 work I have had access to all of the stores of the District of Columbia, 
 workshops, factories, laundries, and so forth, where child labor has 
 been used and is being used. The law, as you know, sir, is that no 
 minor under 16 years of age can be employed without first having 
 obtained a permit either from the superintendent of the public 
 schools or an authorized deputy or a judge of the juvenile court. 
 That is, between 14 and 16 from the superintendent of public schools 
 and between 1'2 and 14 from the judge of the juvenile court. That 
 is in cases where it is absolutely necessary for the child to work for 
 its own maintenance in part or in whole or for its mother, who may 
 be a widow, or an invalid father. As I said, that law has been in 
 force now since 1898; as I recall it, and I have been on that work since 
 the passage of that bill, and it has worked and is being worked now 
 very successfully with, practically speaking, no opposition. The 
 merchants are in favor of it, and I think that every father and mother 
 who is worthy of being called such is in favor of that law. 
 
 I know a great many of the lady clerks in the large stores and I 
 have yet to hear, since this bill has been spoken of, a single one desir- 
 ing to work longer than 8 hours. The larger stores in the District 
 of Columbia are coming to the point where they would like to see 
 the public educated up to the point of doing their shopping before 
 6 o'clock. Some of our very best stores close at the very latest at 
 half-past 5, opening at half-past 8, and give their clerks from three- 
 quarters of an hour to an hour for lunch, which makes it. practically 
 speaking, 8 hours a day. Mr. Garfinkle closes all the year around 
 at 6 o'clock except through the summer, when he closes at 1 o'clock on 
 Saturday. It has been customary heretofore for the other stores t© 
 keep open as late as 8 or 9 o'clock on Saturdays at night except dur- 
 ing the holidavs, and then they kept open until 9 or 10 or 11, or as 
 late- as thev thought necessary. Last year there were only a very 
 few of the 'better class of stores that kept open late. Woodward & 
 Lothrop kept open 2 nights during the holidays, but, as I said before, 
 Mr. Garfinkle did not keep open at all. I was in Mr. Kann's, that is, 
 Kann & Sons, Eighth and Pennsylvania Avenue, Lansburghs, the 
 Palais Koyal, and the Boston House, and those gentlemen told me 
 that the business they did during the holidays by keeping open after 
 6 o'clock did not pay their expenses, because the public is becoming 
 educated up to the point where it prefers doing its shopping in the 
 daytime. So that I say that while I know but little about, the work 
 of those over 16. 1 consider that I am conversant with the employment 
 of minors under 16. I believe there are 600 girls and boys employed 
 in the District of Columbia under 16 years of age. I should say 
 about one-third of that number are girls, and they are being used 
 as bundle wrappers and floor messengers and such like in the depart- 
 ment stores. The messenger companies, of course, use all boys. 
 
 The Chairman. Would you consider it wise, Captain, from a 
 standpoint of morality to have a condition where those girls under 
 16 years of age could be employed in the evenings, m the nighttime* 
 Do you think that is a wise thing from the standpoint of morality { 
 
 Capt. Estes. Xo, sir; I do not. I think that girls under 16 years 
 of age should be at home. My experience in the police department 
 for 20-odd years, with the two exceptions that I went to Cuba tor 
 about a vear as captain of volunteers and later went to the 1 hilip- 
 
l r 50 HOUES OF LABOB FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 pines and stayed there 2 yeans as a lieutenant — my experience with 
 girls working at night, going to and from their places of business, 
 is that it leads to loitering around the streets with their companions, 
 and their parents are under the impression that they are at work. I 
 could name several cases where girls have been led astray. I men- 
 tioned in mj' report recently, when I was called upon during the agi- 
 tation of the curfew law. four different girls, to my personal knowl- 
 edge, from having been allowed to loiter around the streets, who are 
 now leading lives that are anything but projier. 
 
 Mr. House. Captain, did I understand you a moment ago to say 
 that the girls that you have talked to regarding this bill were unani- 
 mously in favor of it, or did you say that they were in favor of the 
 8 -hour principle? 
 
 Capt. Estes. In favor of the 8-hour proposition. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Have you talked with many about this bill ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir ; frequently. I am in the stores every day. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Have you visited any of these tailor shops where they 
 have lady employees'? 
 
 Capt. Estes. I have not recently. Of course, I have another man 
 with me. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. I have reference to the time since the introduction of 
 this bill? 
 
 Capt. Estes. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Have you questioned any of the employees of the 
 laundries as to their opinion in regard to the bill ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. I have talked with a few. One or two of the Frank- 
 lin people, the Manhattan, and the Elite. 
 
 Mr.' Rotjse. Do they object to working overtime? 
 
 Capt. Estes. I can not say that I spoke of that point, but 1 con- 
 fined my conversation to the number of hours that they would like 
 to have, and without exception they were all in favor of the 8-hour 
 law. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. But are they opposed to working overtime if they are 
 paid for it? 
 
 Capt. Estes. No, sir; the question of overtime was not spoken of. 
 In my experience with laundries eight hours is rather a long day in 
 the average laundry in the summer time, because it is intensely hot 
 and in many cases ventilation is very poor. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Have you talked to any female employees in the print- 
 ing establishments ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. No, sir ; I have not. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. The reason I asked you about those particular places 
 is that we have had representatives of those classes of business before 
 the committee. 
 
 Capt. Estes. I can not recall having spoken to any female em- 
 ployees engaged in any of the printing establishments. We have one 
 or two printing establishments here that employ boys. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Well, that does not have anything to do with this bill. 
 
 Capt. Estes. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. The ones that you have talked to are employed in the 
 department stores ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Principally. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Have you talked to any of the restaurant people? 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 151 
 
 Capt Estes. Yes, sir; yesterday I spoke to a maid who waited 
 
 on 
 
 was 
 
 me in the Crown Restaurant and she was in favor of the bill I 
 in the restaurant business myself once. 
 Mr. Rouse. Was she in favor of the strict 8-hour proposition? 
 Capt. Estes. She said, "Eight hours is long enough for me to 
 work. 1 do not care to work any longer than that." 
 
 Mr. Rouse. As to the question put to these ladies, is it -just "Are 
 you in favor ot 8 hours? " 
 
 ' Capt, Estes. No, sir; I frequently go in the Crown Restaurant, 
 and 1 spoke to the young lady who waited on me about the bill beintr 
 before the committee now, and said, "What are you in favor of 8 
 hours, or would you like to work as you are now ? " She said " Eight 
 hours is long enough for me to work." 
 
 Mr. Rouse. It is long enough for most people to work. That has 
 been the trend of the conversation : "Are you in favor of 8 hours ? " 
 A.nd the answer has been universally, " I am " ? 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. You would not expect anything else ? 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. If you would ask them if they were in favor of 6 
 hours, they would say the same thing ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. I would not answer that. I know of some people 
 here who are willing to give value received for their wages. 
 
 Mr. Rouse. Captain, on your rounds from now on — after you have 
 asked the first question and the second question, "Are you in favor of 
 the 8-hour bill?" and then, "If you work overtime, a reasonable 
 length of time, and are paid for that time " — ask them if they would 
 be in favor of 54 or 60 hours a week, provided they would be paid 
 for the extra time over 48. 
 Capt. Estes. I will do that, sir. 
 
 Mr. Manning. After this law became effective, the 8-hour law 
 governing the employment of children or those under 16 years of 
 age, what was the usual method or custom governing their employ- 
 ment in the department stores? 
 Capt. Estes. Well, as to time ? 
 
 Mr. Manning. As to the method or arrangement governing their 
 8-hour employment? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Well, they would regulate their time something like 
 this: Some of the bundle wrappers would come on at 8 o'clock and 
 others at half past 8, and they would give them a little longer time 
 for lunch and allow them to quit earlier. 
 
 The Chairman. That is, thev had some of the wrappers come on 
 at 8 o'clock? 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir. That is, during the season they opened at 8. 
 The Chairman. And others would come at 8.30. and they would 
 both have a workday of 8 hours ? 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. So that the ones that came at 8.30 would stay a 
 half hour longer ? 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir. 
 
 The Chairman. But both would work 8 hours ? 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir. The merchants here are not so rushed at 
 that early hour as they are later on in the day, but it would about 
 
152 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 equal up itself, and also just before closing, probably, the rush is 
 not quite so heavv. They try to have the larger force on during the 
 busiest hours of 'the day. In fact, I know that Mr. Garfinkle has 
 absolutely nothing to do up until about 10 o'clock in the morning. I 
 know that some of his girls do not get there until 9 o'clock, although 
 they are required to get there at 8. My personal knowledge is that 
 some of his girls do not get there until 9, and they frequently go off— 
 probably get excused— a half hour earlier. That is, in a very few 
 cases. I know that two of his girls did live in Baltimore, and he 
 allowed them to come at 9 o'clock in the morning, and they never did 
 work more than 8 hours a day. 
 
 Mr. Manning. With the idea of showing, if this bill is favorably 
 reported and becomes a law. that there would be no hardship, I would 
 like to ask the Captain if in the enforcement of the 8-hour law for 
 children he has met with any difficulty from the employers, and I 
 refer especially to the department stores? 
 
 Capt. Estes! No, sir. The only complaint is as to the arrangement 
 that I had spoken of, the arrangement of the hours, and some of 
 the clerks did not like the idea because they were giving the ad- 
 vantage to the minors under 16; that is, some of the bundle wrappers 
 over 16 entered a mild protest against it. 
 
 Mr. Manning. There has been practically no opposition? 
 Capt. Estes. No, sir; I have met with practically no opposition 
 in enforcing the child-labor law. The merchants seem to be in favor 
 of it, as a rule. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. You laid particular stress upon Mr. Garfinkle and 
 Woodward & Lothrop closing at 6 o'clock. Has Mr. Garfinkle ever 
 paid any attention to the manufacturing department — alterations on 
 millinery? I know of some cases where they have worked as late 
 as 11 or 12 o'clock. 
 
 Capt. Estes. Mr. Garfinkle has an alteration department. They sell 
 a good many ladies' suits and in most cases they have to be altered, 
 so I would judge he has paid attention to that particular part of the 
 business. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. I asked you whether they ever worked overtime? 
 Capt. Estes. T have never known of it; I do not say that they 
 have never worked overtime, but I say that his closing time is half 
 past 5 and they never work after 6 o'clock. I have frequently called 
 up there at a later hour for Mr. Johnson, who is the manager, and no 
 one is there but the janitor. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. Do you know anything about the tailoring busi- 
 ness, about the seasons; about working overtime? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Well, probably as every other man does, I know 
 that there are busy seasons and dull seasons for every branch of 
 business and I presume they have theirs. 
 
 Mr. Hebbard. That is the only branch I am interested in myself, 
 the tailoring and the overtime. I said yesterday that if they decide 
 on an 8-hour law I "would rather have a 9-hour law, and I would 
 rather have the privilege of overtime work to meet the extra rush 
 work. I would like to have some investigation of the tailoring estab- 
 lishments here. The stores can easily overcome the rush, but we 
 would like to have the privilege of meeting this rush in the same 
 manner. 
 
 Capt. Estes. T might do that, Mr. Chairman. 
 
HOUES OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 153 
 
 I The Chairman. We are anxious to conclude these hearings as soon 
 as possible and so far as the committee is concerned we shall not 
 ask it. 
 
 | Mr Hebbard As secretary of the exchange I offer mv services to 
 'investigate the tailoring shops, m any way. 
 
 Capt. Estes. Of course, it is outside of my business, Mr Chair- 
 man, but 1 could do it every day. I drop into tailoring shops to see 
 whether they have persons under 16 vears of age there especially 
 if I receive an anonymous communication saving that thev have 
 Of course, we do not do that very frequently. Recently I had a 
 communication of that land and I investigated it and found that 
 one of the boys in a messenger service was working from half past 
 5 to 8 o'clock at night. He was awfully behind in his studies and 
 his teacher complained of it and a few days afterwards I received 
 the anonymous complaint that he was working for a messenger com- 
 pany and I investigated it and found that it was true. 
 
 Mr. Stern. Did you have occasion to go into the steam laundries, 
 after sundown in the summer time ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Stern. Do you think, Captain, during the heated season that 
 it is injurious to the workers to work after sundown in the laundry? 
 
 Capt. Estes. I could not give expert testimony, but from my view 
 I should not care to do it. In fact, I would not care to work in a 
 laundry at any time. 
 
 Mr. Farren. Might I answer that question ? 
 
 The Chairman. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Farren. The laundries will admit that it is injurious in the 
 summer time, but where is the steam laundry that' works after sun- 
 down in summer time? The bill that we have asked for prohibits 
 it. We have never worked after sundown in summer time. It is a 
 very hot place in a laundry and we do not want to work after sun- 
 down. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I would like to ask a question. 
 
 The Chairman. All right. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You stated that you considered 8 hours a long period 
 of work in the busy season. I want to ask whether, in your obser- 
 vation, you have not ascertained that the laundries, as a rule, do not 
 work as long as 8 hours. Is it not a fact that they do not work 8. 
 hours in the heated season ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. In my statement I said I considered 8 hours rather 
 long for the laundries I visited. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In your conversation with laundry employees,, did 
 you learn that it is customary for laundrymen to omit as much work 
 as possible during the extreme hot days, possibly only working 4 or 
 5 hours and making it up on cooler days? In other words, they 
 adjust their work as much as possible to suit the weather and take 
 advantage of conditions, having the privilege of working long hours 
 some days and making it up on hot days out of compassion for their 
 employees, allowing them to go home earlier on the hot days. 
 
 Capt. Estes. I can not say that I have observed that condition. 
 [ can only say that my experience with laundries is that they are 
 mxious to get their work out of the way as quickly as they can. 
 (Then I want my laundry in a hurry they tell me, "We will get it 
 rat just as soon as possible." I do not know anything about the time 
 
154 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 that they work, how long they work, or anything of that kind. My 
 business is simply this: If they employ a minor under 16 years of 
 age I go to the manager and say, t: You have a boy or a girl em- 
 ployed here and the law says that you can not work them more than 
 8 hours a day and if you do we will have to proceed against you," 
 and I will see that they do not work a minor under 16 years of age 
 more than 8 hours a day. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Actually, you know very little about the length of 
 hours? 
 
 Capt. Estes. I know absolutely nothing about them, except as to 
 minors. They may work 20 hours as far as I know. I am only con- 
 cerned with the minors. I simply said that I considered 8 hours a 
 long day. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. In your duties and official capacity or otherwise, have 
 you been in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on summer nights 
 and observed the conditions there? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Yes; I have been there, but they have no minors 
 under 16 years of age there. But I have been in the bureau at night. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You know that they work a double shift, even includ- 
 ing the hot weather ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Yes; I know that they work three shifts of 8 hours 
 sometimes. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You know from observation that that is a very hot 
 building down there ? 
 
 Capt. Estes. Yes. sir. 
 
 The Chairman. I may say for the information of the gentlemen 
 present and for the record that there are some of the members of 
 the committee that know of those things also, and are perfectly will- 
 ing to add to the record that it is one of the worst sweatshops that 
 exists anywhere in the world. If it is of any benefit to the gentle- 
 men who have been asking that line of questions, I will make that 
 statement for the record. Anything further? 
 
 Capt. Estes. No, sir. Thank you. 
 
 Mr. Howard. It might be well to let it go- in the record in con- 
 nection with what you stated, that the Government is spending quite 
 a large sum of money on a building to relieve the conditions down 
 there. 
 
 The Chairman. That is true. They are building a new building, 
 trying to get away from the sweatshop conditions that exist in the 
 present Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 
 
 STATEMENT OF ME. JOHN B. C0LP0YS, SECRETARY OF THE WASH- 
 INGTON CENTRAL LABOR UNION, 604 FIFTH STREET, NW., 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Mr. Chairman, in appearing here to-day and advo- 
 cating the passage of this bill I appear for the Washington Central 
 Labor Union, as secretary of the union and also as a member of the 
 legislative committee. The legislative committee first considered 
 the La Follette bill, which is the same bill as the Peters bill, on 
 which hearings are now being held, and the legislative committee 
 reported to the Central Labor Union that the Central Labor Union 
 should indorse and instruct the legislative committee to work for 
 the passage of this particular bill, which seeks to give to the women 
 
HOURS OF LABOB FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 155 
 
 -workers of the District an 8-hour law. I was somewhat interested 
 in the hearings that were held before the Senate District Committee, 
 and some of the arguments that were advanced there and also some 
 of the arguments that have been advanced here against the passage 
 of the bill. They are nothing new. They are the same old argu- 
 ments that have been advanced in every State in the Union, espe- 
 cially before committees that have similar bills under consideration. 
 The employer can not conform his business to meet the requirements 
 of an 8-hour law, but it is strange that the employer can conform 
 his business to meet the requirements that come up in every oth'-;; 
 line of his business with the exception of the labor end. In almost 
 every business of late there have been increases in the cost of ma- 
 terial, yet the employer can meet those increases and carry on his 
 business, but as he treats labor as a commodity, he can not conform 
 his business to what the labor movement considers a sufficient length 
 of time for anybodj 7 to work. 
 
 It has been the aim of the labor movement to establish a universal 
 8-hour law. because we believe that better results will come to both 
 the employer and employee from an 8-hour work day. Some years 
 ago, when it was usual for men and women both to work a 10-hour 
 day, through organization — that is, through organized labor — we 
 established first a 9-hour day. At that time the employers made 
 the same statements that were made here to-day, that it would be 
 impossible to do the work on a 9-hour basis, and yet they found 
 that the men do as much work and in most cases better work in a 
 9-hour day than in a 10-hour day. It has been demonstrated in 
 the building trade especially that the men employed under an 8-hour 
 day have done better and more work under the 8-hour day than 
 they did under the P-hour day or the 10-hour day, and some 
 years back, before my time, under the 12-hour day. So that if 
 this 'bill was passed I fail to see how it can work a hardship on 
 anybody. I believe that since we are situated in Washington as we 
 are, deprived of the right that is given to every other citizen in 
 every other section of the country, the right to participate in his 
 own government, since Congress is responsible for the passage of 
 laws affecting the interests of the citizens of this District, I believe 
 that it is their dutv to enact what some of the people who opposed 
 this bill called a " model " bill. They all admit, even in their oppo- 
 sition, that it is a model bill, and they do not want to be made the 
 goat. In other words, they realize that the bill will bring about 
 model conditions, and they oppose it. Now, if the bill should bring 
 about model conditions, it is the duty of Congress to enact it. It 
 is not only the effect that it will have upon the women with regard 
 to the District, but throughout the country, having this very question 
 under consideration, and if Congress enacts such a law, it will be a 
 model for other States to follow, and the effect that it will have 
 will not be only on the other States, but it will affect the whole 
 
 world. „ 
 
 We boast that we are a great, free, untrammeled country, one or 
 the richest in the world, and we ought also to have conditions com- 
 mensurate with those boasts. I have been very much interested in 
 the people who have opposed this bill. I might call the attention 
 of the committee to the fact that the largest employers of labor 
 in the District— women workers— have not appeared either before 
 
156 HOURS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
 
 this committee or the Senate committee in opposition to this bill. 
 Those that employ practically 75 per cent of the women in the 
 District have not appeared in opposition to the bill because they 
 would be only too pleased to know that such a bill if passed would 
 place their competitors on the same footing as themselves. We know 
 that those of us in the District who have fought for what is known 
 as the early-closing period, especially during the summer months, 
 did not get it without somewhat of a struggle. We had to fight for 
 it, and yet one of the employers, from one of the smaller department 
 stores, who appeared in opposition to the bill, was very emphatic 
 in his statements before the Senate committee as to the conditions 
 of the employees in his establishment, and he is one of those who 
 has been a thorn in the side of the early-closing stores. I refer to 
 the department store of Mr. King, known as the " King's Palace." 
 He keeps a department store on Seventh Street, right next to another 
 establishment. The other one, during the summer months, closes 
 at 6 o'clock. Mr. King could not see the necessity for early closing 
 during the summer months, and he keeps open until 9 o'clock, just 
 the same as he does during the balance of the year, although his 
 testimony before the Senate committee and his actions toward his 
 help are diametrically opposite the one to the other. 
 
 The Chairman. What time does King's establishment open? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Eight o'clock. 
 
 The Chairman. The same time as the other? 
 
 Mr. Colpys. Yes; I may say this: All of the department stores in 
 the District of Columbia open at 8 o'clock nine months in the year. 
 Perhaps three months in the } r ear they open at 8.30, owing to the fact 
 that they work their employees 70 or 72 hours during the holidays, 
 and they give them that half hour off because of the vast amount of 
 hours that they work during the rush season. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Do you know whether they receive any extra com- 
 pensation during the Christmas rush? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. I have never heard of their receiving any extra com- 
 pensation. In fact, from investigations that I have made, person- 
 ally, I do not think they do. 
 
 The Chairman. That is, in his department store ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. No T sir ; they are never paid for extra time. I have 
 never known of any department store where they received extra pay 
 for anything, but on the other hand, they are docked for being under 
 time. 
 
 Mr. Howard. They have the time-clock system in the department 
 stores where every clerk has to ring the clock ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Why, I think, they have got perhaps a stricter sys- 
 tem than a time-clock system. 
 
 Mr. Howard. But they have got a system? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Oh, yes; they have what they call a time clerk, who 
 sits at a desk and as they come in they report. They go by numbers. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Now, what penalty is attached to failure to be 
 promptly on time in the majority of the stores? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. There are different penalties, as I understand. 
 
 Mr. Howard. But is the general system of docking in vogue in the 
 District? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Howard. For failure to report? 
 
HOUBS OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 157 
 
 Mr. Colpys. Yes; I know in one store they allow for five minutes 
 ,-teeway, and they dock for over five minutes. If they were to come 
 m ifr X m r inutes late the y would be docked six minutes. 
 
 Mr. Howard. You know the great railroad systems allow five min- 
 utes for variation of watches for waiting time for trains moving in 
 opposite directions? 
 
 " Mr. Colpoys. Yes, sir; I have had some experience myself in de- 
 partment-store work. I worked in a department store for about 
 lour months. I took charge of a department in a department store, 
 and I may say that my sympathies at that time were awakened more 
 strongly to the conditions under which these poor girls had to work 
 than at any time before, because it came under my observation. 
 
 If you gentlemen of the committee only had the time to make a 
 round of the various stores and just look at the help, and if you find 
 in any of the stores even 20 per cent of what I might call healthy 
 and robust employees, it will be a surprise to me. Most of the girls 
 working in the department stores you will find to be, at least in most 
 cases, emaciated looking. But my experience has been this : I have 
 known several of them who have worked in department stores and 
 just as soon as they reach what I consider to be the height of the 
 ambition of every young lady — that is, to enter the matrimonial 
 state — after they had entered it for about six months, I think, they 
 commence to fill out and look healthy and robust. That is true not 
 only of this city, but perhaps of every city. The close confinement 
 that they have to put up with naturally affects their health. Now, 
 in the department store in which I worked 
 
 The Chairman (interposing). Does that mean simply an effect 
 upon the complexion because of being away from the sunlight, or an 
 effect upon their muscular — it affects their physical condition gen- 
 erally ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Oh, it affects their physical condition, generally. 
 
 Mr. Howard. What do you attribute that to ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. To the confinement for one thing, to the air that they 
 breathe and the conditions under which they must work. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Assuming a standing position all day ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Yes ; on their feet all day. In the department store 
 in which I worked I really do not know how the girls lived that 
 worked on the first floor, because on the first floor the only possible 
 way of any fresh air coming in was through some transoms that were 
 over the windows, the east windows, and the front door. In the back 
 of the establishment they had a shoe department that extended across 
 the whole back of the store, and at the other end of the room they had 
 a small balcony built where they had their grocery department, right 
 up next the windows, so that there was no possible chance for the air 
 to circulate as much as it ought to, to provide people with' pure air. 
 
 Mr. Howard. How many department stores in Washington have 
 their goods and wares in the basement — what they call the basement — 
 below the sidewalk ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Why, almost all of them. There may be some few 
 that have not, but most of them have some rooms in the basement. 
 There is no opposition from those people to this particular bill, 
 because they realize it is a just bill, and because they could not come 
 before this committee and offer any argument .as to why the bill 
 should not be enacted. They are all increasing the capacity of their 
 
158 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 stores by making additions to them, so they are prospering— they 
 must be— or they could not build those additions, and consequently 
 they ought to be willing to share some of their prosperity with their 
 employees. Now, I was interested somewhat in a statement made 
 by one of the gentlemen who addressed you this morning, Mr. Rob- 
 erts. He said that sometimes when they need extra help if he needed 
 four girls perhaps 20 would apply for the places. 
 
 The Chairman. He was referring to overtime. He said that fre- 
 quently they would require a small number to work overtime and a 
 great many more would volunteer for that work than they needed. 
 That was the statement of Mr. Roberts, as I understood it. I want 
 to have that statement appear in the record so that your statement 
 might be based upon facts. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Well, of course I realize, as everybody who makes 
 a superficial study of labor conditions must, that wages are regulated 
 through supply and demand. I know that the supply in the District of 
 Columbia far exceeds at the present time the demand, so that if the 
 hours of the labor of these women employees were to be reduced one 
 hour per day it would mean, in order for them to do the same amount 
 of business as is being done to-day, provided it is necessary to work 
 them 9 hours, it would mean that more of the people would have 
 an. opportunity to work. And that is something that should be taken 
 into consideration, because I believe that society owes to those who 
 need work that they should furnish it. 
 
 The Chairman. Your position is that the reduction of the number 
 of hours, say, from 10 to 8, would mean an increase of 20 per cent in 
 the number that would be employed, and that in itself would reduce 
 the comparative supply of women workers, instead of acting as re- 
 ducing force in their wages it would act as an advancing force in 
 their wages? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. We have found it to be a fact in the labor move- 
 ment that wherever the hours of labor have been reduced a corres- 
 ponding increase in wages has been obtained, but I do not believe 
 there would be 20 per cent more placed at work because of the reduc- 
 tion from 10 to 8 hours, but I think they would perhaps need 10 per 
 cent more. I think at times they do not really need all that they 
 employ, but they have to keep them for the protection of their 
 business. 
 
 The Chairman. You do not think they would be able to perform 
 just the amount per hour in 8 hours as they would in 10? You 
 believe they would be able to perform more work per hour in 8 
 hours than they would in 10? 
 
 Mi-. Colpoys. Yes; thev would give better service in 8 hours than 
 in 10. 
 
 Mi-. Hebbard. He has been talking about the department stores. 
 We admit that there has been quite a little evidence in regard to the 
 opposition of the department stores, but most of it has been from 
 the manufacturing industries here, and I would like to have some- 
 thing on that. I would like to know if he will not agree to over- 
 time, privileges. That is all we have asked practically, in all of 
 these hearings, and we might just as well get down to 'the facts of 
 this. 
 
 Mr. Howard. I would like to ask there in regard to the latter 
 part of section 3 of this bill, what is your opinion as to the effect 
 
HOUES OF LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 159 
 
 upon the closing time of all stores who have a majority of female 
 help employed ? Department stores that have 20 per cent of women 
 employed. Would this, in your opinion, force the stores, and all 
 stores in the city, to close at 6 o'clock afall seasons of the year? 
 
 Mr. Colpots. No ; I do not think so. 
 
 Mr. Howakd. I just wanted to get your opinion as to the effect of 
 it. It^has been urged here, I understand. 
 
 Mr. Colpots. I think that if the bill were to be enacted the 
 department stores in complying with it would close their places of 
 business at 6 o'clock, in conformity to this particular section of the 
 bill, but if they wanted to keep open, as they do now, until 9 o'clock, 
 they could regulate that, because the female would be employed to- 
 work 8 hours only. The only thing would be that they could not 
 employ any under 18 years of age over that time, but in so far as the 
 time of opening and closing is concerned, 1 might answer that in 
 this way: My wife used to go down town Saturday night and do 
 some shopping, and it was forcibly called to my attention when I 
 had to work in the department store for three months that the 
 extra three hours Saturday night was worse than almost the balance 
 of the week. From working those three hours additional there at 
 that time, I decided that I would talk with her and convince her 
 that she should not do any shopping on Saturday night. Naturally 
 a woman thinks she ought to have the prerogative to do as she likes,, 
 and I let her do it, but I convinced her that it was wrong to go 
 down there Saturday night. I said to her, " Why don't you go 
 down on Sunday ? " '" Why." she says, " the stores are closed on 
 Sunday." "Then," I saicl, "if the stores closed at 6 o'clock, you 
 would arrange to do your shopping before 6 o'clock, wouldn't you? " 
 "Yes," she said. And so would everybody else. 
 
 Another argument I heard as to the reason why they have got. to 
 work these long hours in Washington is to accommodate the Gov- 
 ernment employees. Now. think of it. If that would be one of 
 the reasons why they have to work these hours, I would be one of 
 the ones to come up and teach the Government employees a lesson 
 by asking that a bill be introduced that takes away their 30 days 
 annual leave, a privilege they have, which is not enjoyed by any 
 other class of people that has to work for a living. In every other 
 city in the country very few people that work get 30 days annual 
 leave, and allowed to take it as they will, scatter it through the 
 year, and I do not believe that argument should be held as a forci- 
 ble argument as to why this bill should not be passed. 
 
 The Chairman. In the great bulk of the cities of the United States- 
 the employees are not Government employees; they are employees 
 of private establishments; they usually work anywhere from 8 to- 
 10 hours per day, and many of them work the 10 hours, and the 
 shopping establishments close at approximately the same hours as- 
 they close in. this city. Would it not be just as difficult for the 
 family of a man who is working 10 hours in those cities to do their 
 shopping as it would be for the families of those who are working 
 8 hours to do their shopping here, if the stores were permitted to 
 keep open only 8 hours? 
 
 Mr Colpots. I think perhaps it would be more difficult because, 
 as I say, most of the employees in the District of Columbia are Gov- 
 ernment employees. They comprise the great bulk of the people 
 
160 HOURS OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 here outside of the employees of these shops. They have 30 days' 
 leave on their hands that they can use a day or half a day, or an hour, 
 or even half an hour, so that without any loss of wages they could do 
 their shopping, and the poor people that work in these stores if they 
 want to do their shopping they have to lose half a day's pay. The 
 Government employee is paid by the Government while going to do 
 his shopping, providing he wants to use his leave in that way. 
 
 Now, Mr. Hebbard speaks about the tailoring business. Of course 
 I know that there are certain businesses that have certain seasons 
 and I know that it requires in these businesses overtime work. I 
 am not prepared to saw how it should be regulated to conform to 
 the needs of this particular business, but I do know from my ex- 
 perience in the business world that during the year there are some 
 businesses, as I said, that require overtime work. As far as the 
 laundries are concerned I fail to see where at any time during the 
 year an emergency arises whereby they should be allowed to work 
 their employees more than 8 hours a day. I believe they can so 
 conform their business that it would not be necessary for them to 
 have to work their employees more than 8 hours a day. I know 
 from my experience in the labor movement, having had reports from 
 the international office of the laundry workers' union out through 
 the West, where they had established an 8-hour day, and the wages 
 paid by the employers in the various laundries throughout the West 
 is almost double what it is in the District of Columbia. 
 
 They have more men employed at short hours than they do here, 
 and the prices are practically the same as they are in the District 
 of Columbia. But the great trouble — one of the troubles in the 
 District of Columbia, so far as business is concerned, is this: That 
 there are too many in business trying to make a living off the sweat 
 and blood of their employees, so that if this law was to work a hard- 
 ship by putting any of them out of business perhaps it might be a 
 benefit to those who are in business with sufficient and legitimate 
 capital that they should receive a return from that capital to enable 
 them to exist. As I say, however, there are some of the various 
 manufacturing concerns in the District that really at times need to 
 work overtime in order for them to get out their work. I know 
 that they do in the tailoring industry especially, where they have 
 but two seasons ; they have a spring and a fall season in their busi- 
 ness, and there are some businesses in which those that work have 
 but one season that is considered a good season; so that I am not 
 prepared to say as to how the bill should be amended to conform to 
 the needs of their particular business. I do not know that there is 
 anything more that I can add, only, I might say, from 'no other 
 reason than from a humanitarian point of view, this bill should be 
 passed to protect the women who are to become, as I have said, in 
 their proper sphere, the mothers of the future citizens of our 
 country. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Would you have the law apply to domestics? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Would I have it apply to domestics? 
 
 Mr. Smith. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Yes; I would have it apply to domestics. 
 
 The Chairman. You just testified that you found in the District 
 of Columbia some trades in which the emergencies of the work would 
 
HOUBS OS- .LAUOB FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTBICT OF COLUMBIA. 161 
 
 .require employment of people for overtime. Would you consider 
 I the emergencies existing in domestic service necessary for the em- 
 : ployment of overtime? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Oh, there are times, I presume, that there would be 
 necessity for them to work overtime. For instance, by domestic 
 service I believe you mean the female employed in family service? 
 
 The Chairman. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Yes: I believe there would be times that would re- 
 quire overtime on the part of those employees, perhaps in the case 
 of receptions and things of that kind, but they do not give those 
 every day, and it is only once in awhile that that occasion would arise. 
 I should consider, however, that there are cases. I think that the 
 domestic is just as much entitled to the consideration of the laws 
 governing their employment as anybody else that works for a living. 
 
 The Chairman. How would you arrange it jn the family that 
 needs the help of only one domestic and is not in a position to afford 
 more than one. How would you arrange to limit the hours of that 
 one domestic to 8 ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. There are too many families that are not able to have 
 more than one domestic that I would say that the family that is able 
 to employ only one domestic should do part of the work just like 
 those that are not able to employ any. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. You stated that you saw no reason at any season in 
 the year why the laundries should desire to work over 8 hours a day. 
 May T ask if you ever engaged in the laundry business? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. No : never. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Did you ever work in a laundry ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. No; never. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Naturally you would see no reason for working 
 overtime ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Not naturally. As I say, I have read the reports 
 coming from the organization which has investigated the working 
 conditions of the people employed in this business. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. I want to ask one more question. You made a state- 
 ment a little while ago that the employers, the largest establishments, 
 were not represented here, in fact, that only a few of the smaller ones 
 were represented here opposed to this bill. I want to state in answer 
 to that that the employers were here, with very few exceptions, of 
 some of the largest establishments. Some of them did not have a 
 chance to be heard, and it was understood that the evidence coming 
 from all of them would be too voluminous and take up too much of 
 the time of the committee, and in lieu of that, the civic bodies of the 
 city have unanimously gone on record as opposing this bill. That 
 includes the proprietors of the largest establishments in the city. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. That is nothing new. 
 
 Mr Sowers. You stated that they had not come before the com- 
 mittee in opposition to this bill. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. They have not. I don't believe there has been a 
 representative of Woodward & Lothrop's here. I do not believe there 
 has been a representative of the Palais Royal here. I do not believe 
 there has been a representative of S. Kann's Sons here. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Yes ; Kann's are represented here, and Goldenberg's 
 are here, and I can say that the other department stores you mention 
 
 78634—13 11 
 
162 HOUES OF LABOB FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 were present at a meeting of the Ketail Merchants' Association at 
 which time this resolution was adopted. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. From what I understand, from a gentleman who 
 made an investigation of it, most of the department stores did not 
 oppose this bill. This man made an investigation for himself by 
 calling up the firms. He made inquiry from them as to the hours of 
 labor that they worked at the present time, and he did not come 
 across one that told him they were opposed to this bill. 
 
 Mr. Sowers. Notwithstanding the fact that they have come here 
 in person and stated that they were opposed to it ? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Perhaps there may have been some that came here 
 without authority from the heads of their concerns. 
 
 The Chairman. I think that line of discussion is absolutely un- 
 necessary, because the records themselves will show who appeared 
 here and who did not appear here and whom they represented. 
 
 Mr. Farren. The laundry workers come to work on Monday morn- 
 ing at 10 o'clock, or 10.30,' and work until 6 on Monday, and then 
 for four days in the week they work 10 hours a day; they are dis- 
 missed, we will assume, at 2 o'clock on Saturdays. That applies to 
 the busiest season only. In the warm summer months, of course, 
 there would be comparatively fewer hours. Assuming that that 
 is so, under this bill they would come to work at 8 o'clock Monday 
 morning and work eight hours a day until 5 o'clock Saturday night. 
 Which would you consider preferable, from the standpoint of the 
 girls, that they should work from 8 to ."> every day, or that they 
 should work a little longer on four days and have that extra time off? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. From 8 to 5. 
 
 Mr. Farren. Each day? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Yes. That has been proven to be the best arrange- 
 ment, not only from my standpoint, but from the medical standpoint. 
 
 Mr. Farren. You understand that they are paid full time for this 
 short term? 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Yes; I understand that. You do not pay them any 
 more than what they themselves could demand. You are not in 
 business from philanthropic motives. 
 
 Mr. Farren. Competition among laundries for help in the city is 
 pretty keen, and if we have a girl that is really a good girl, some 
 of my competitors will offer her a dollar or a dollar and 50 cents 
 more, and we will have to give her more to keep her. This does not 
 apply, of course, to the operators of the mangles, as they are com- 
 paratively plentiful. 
 
 The Chairman. It does not seem very evident, based upon the evi- 
 dence rendered to this committee, that there have been a great many 
 bids of a dollar or a dollar and a half to get help from your estab- 
 lishment, because it is shown here that the wages range from $3 to 
 $10 per week. There could not be very many bids of $2 on that 
 basis. 
 
 Mr: Farren. The wages range from $4 to $10. The average wage. 
 I think, is $5150. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Is it hot a fact that in most laundries those that 
 are employed, after they go home they have to work after they get 
 home? 
 
 Mr. Farren. I do not know. I have some girls that stay home 
 all day Mondays to do their home work. They always have Satur- 
 
HOUBS OP J.ABOB POR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 163 
 
 day afternoon all the year around, and in the summer time, the hot 
 months, we call them off anywhere frpm 4 to 5 o'clock 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. If you had an 8-hour day you would be in the same 
 position as your competitor; he would have nothing on vou in that 
 regard. & 
 
 Mr. Fareen The 8-hour day might be all right, but not the 48- 
 hour week. TV e do not have any work from Saturday to Monday 
 morning, and they are naturally idle for that particular time, and 
 we must complete our work within the week. Every housewife 
 demands that, and with 48 hours a week you could not do it. 
 *iity-iour hours a week and not more than 10 hours in any one dav 
 provides for all overtime. 
 
 Mr Colpoys. You might just as well not have the bill as to have 
 that, because the bill, as I understand it, is to help the physical con- 
 dition of the female employee, and if they are allowed to work 54 
 hours and work 15 hours a day it is not going to help them at all. 
 
 Mr. Fabben. I said not more than 10 hours in any one clay— not 
 15 hours a day. 
 
 Mr. Colpoys. Eight hours per day would be better for all hands 
 concerned; better for the laundries and certainly better for the 
 employees. 
 
 Mr. Faeren. It may work out that way ; I hope it will. 
 
 STATEMENT OF GEORGE F. PAGE, REPRESENTING PAGE'S LAUN- 
 DRY, 620 E STREET NW. 
 
 Mr. Page. May I say a few words, Mr. Chairman? 
 
 The Chairman. A very few words. We are anxious to get these 
 hearings closed. 
 
 Mr. Page. My name is George F. Page, and I am one of the pro- 
 prietors of Page's Laundry, 620 E Street NW. Now, Mr. Chairman 
 and gentlemen of the committee, the Constitution of the United 
 States provides that there can be no law abridging the right of the 
 people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for a 
 redress of grievances. 
 
 At whose instance was the bill now being considered by this hon- 
 orable committee drawn; was it drawn after the receipt of personal 
 request or petitions from those whom the bill is supposed to benefit? 
 
 If such requests haAe been made or petitions filed, then we who 
 stand for a betterment of the conditions of the women wage earners 
 employed by the business men and women of the District of Colum- 
 bia have never been so informed. 
 
 I have heard the arguments of the advocates of this and a similar 
 bill before the honorable Senate Committee of the District of Colum- 
 bia, and with two or three exceptions such advocates are not residents 
 of this city but are from cities far from ours, and they can not be 
 closely in touch with conditions here. 
 
 In Washington we have what you might call a busy and slack 
 season, the busy season commencing early in October and continuing 
 usually until June or until the adjournment of Congress. Then 
 with the exit of the Members of the House and .Senate and their' 
 employees, the 30 days' annual leave of the Government department 
 employees^ and the migration of the wealthy class, business of a 
 necessity drops to a low ebb ; then the hours of labor in stores, shops, 
 
164 HOUBS OF LABOR FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 and factories can well be cut down to an 8-hour basis or lower for 
 the dull period. * 
 
 From October l.to, say, May 31 the laundry business, in which I 
 am a proprietor, could not without a large outlay for additional 
 machinery or by the working of additional help turn out the work 
 in less than what we now have, i. e., a 10-hour day. With the 
 pending bill a law, a hardship would be imposed upon these women, 
 as we certainly could not pay the same wages for an 8-hour day as 
 we do for a 10-hour day. 
 
 Our help have never complained of present conditions as to hours 
 or wages. We employ in our establishment 62 women, white and 
 colored. The wages paid runs from $4.50 for inexperienced help, 
 such as shakers, to $20 per week for office force. 
 
 Mr. Page. Now, I do not believe that I have heard a single argu- 
 ment here in favor of the passage of this bill except from people 
 who are paid ostensibly by some organization well clothed and are 
 growing fat off the earnings of the poor working people. And they 
 say they want this law passed as an example, so that they may have 
 such laws in the States, but why should they try to make the business 
 men of Washington the goats in this case ? 
 
 The Chairman. Do I understand, Mr. Page, from the preliminary 
 statement, that you question the rights of Members of Congress to 
 introduce legislation unless they have been personally importuned 
 to do so? 
 
 Mr. Page. No; I only say they are — well, I will give you that 
 again. It is the first amendment to the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 The Chairman. It is your language following the quotation from 
 the Constitution that I had reference to, the language immediately 
 following that. 
 
 Mr. Page. I say, at whose instance was the bill now being con- 
 sidered by this honorable committee drawn? Was it drawn after 
 i he receipt of personal request or petitions from those whom the bill 
 is supposed to help ? Is that what you referred to ? 
 
 The Chairman. That is the language; and I wanted to know 
 whether you questioned the right of Members of Congress to pass 
 such a law? 
 
 Mr. Page. No ; not at all. 
 
 The Chairman. To introduce legislation, even though there may 
 be no petition from anyone for it? 
 
 Mr. Page. No; I do not question the right; I only asked the ques- 
 tion. I have never heard it said that there were any petitions for 
 this legislation, and I suppose that our help do not ask for it. No ; 
 I was not questioning the right ; certainly not. 
 
 Mr. Howard. You do not question, Mr. Page, the right of Congress 
 to make extravagant appropriations to help you all here in the build- 
 ing up of your city, do you ? 
 
 Mr. Page. Not for a moment. 
 
 The Chairman. They invariably petition us— at least they have 
 practically the unanimous consent of the people of the District of 
 Columbia to proceed with those appropriations. 
 
 Mr. Page. The point I wanted to bring out was that there has 
 been no movement from our working women in Washington that I 
 have heard of for the passage of this law. I realize that sometimes 
 
HOUBS OF LABOR FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 165 
 
 bills are introduced and passed without action taken on the part of 
 the people to be benefited, but why this bill has been advocated and 
 pushed forward here by outsiders I can not understand. 
 
 Mr. Smith. Are there no representatives of labor up here dis- 
 cussing this bill in their interests ? 
 
 Mr. Page. For those that this bill is intended to cover ? 
 
 Mr. Smith. In whose interest do you think the bill is introduced? 
 
 Mr. Page. The bill is introduced in the interest of working women, 
 but it is advocated by outsiders ; and they admit, themselves, that if 
 they can get a model law here it will help them to get such a law 
 outside in the States. 
 
 The Chairman. I think the records show, Mr. Page, that both peo- 
 ple from abroad and people from the city representing the wage earn- 
 ers have appeared in behalf of this bill. Others have appeared in 
 opposition to it. 
 
 Brief of Joseph I. Weller. Attorney at Law. * 
 
 "Washington, D. C, February 6, WIS. 
 To the Committee on Labor, 
 
 House of Representatives, Washington, D. G. 
 
 Gentlemen : I wish to express my appreciation to the committee for the 
 privilege afforded me of filing with you a short brief on House bill No. 27281. 
 In doing so I feel I am not only representing the local merchants, but am also 
 benefiting their female employees. 
 
 I have looked into the question with considerable care and am confident that 
 the female employees of offices and retail stores are not asking for a limitation 
 of eight hours. They are content with their present length of service. Their 
 duties are not arduous or continuous, and I respectfully submit that all the 
 employments enumerated in the bill should not be grouped so that the limitation 
 of eight hours applies to all. A female employee working in an office or a 
 store should not be placed in the^ame category as one working in a laundry 
 or manufacturing establishment; their work is dissimilar and their hours of 
 labor should be different. - 
 
 The amendment I desire to suggest for your kind consideration is the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Strike out article 1 of the bill and substitute in place thereof — 
 
 " That no female shall be employed or permitted to work in any mill, fac- 
 tory, manufacturing or mechanical establishment, including among others any 
 laundry, bakery, printing establishment, hotel, restaurant, or any express or 
 transportation company, or in the transmission or distribution of telegraph or 
 telephone messages more than eight hours in any one day or more than six 
 days or more than forty-eight hours in any one week, and that no female shall 
 be employed or permitted to work in any clothing, dressmaking, or millinery 
 establishment, store, office, or where goods are sold or distributed more than 
 ten hours in any one day or more than six days or more than sixty hours in any 
 one week." 
 
 Also to amend the various sections of the bill where it conflicts with the sug- 
 gestions above. 
 
 I would also suggest that there should be an addition to the bill to the effect : 
 
 " That this act shall take effect and be in force three months after its passage." 
 
 ( 1 ) FEMALE EMPLOYEES IN OFFICES. 
 
 Many female clerks and stenographers working for real estate agents, lawyers, 
 physicians, or other offices, will be deprived of their positions if the eight hour 
 limitation applies to them, as it would in numerous cases compel the employer tc 
 either dispense with the services of his female employees and employ a maie 
 clerk or stenographer, or at least the employer would be obliged to so arrange 
 his affairs and office work so that his stenographer or clerk could leave the office 
 at either 4 or 5 o'clock, depending on the time the clerk came in the morn- 
 ing, and as a result of such an arrangement it would become necessary in many 
 
166 IIOUBS OF LABOB FOB WOMEN IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 cases for Uijii to employ an additional clerk or stenographer to complete the work 
 after the eight-hour limitation, as in many instances the employer would.be 
 busy during the day and unable to attend to his correspondence or dictation 
 until after tic hour of 5 o'clock. Then, again, at the expiration of the 8 
 hours the clerk or stenographer leaving and the additional employee taking her 
 place, would often cause a loss of business by reason of the absent employee 
 being familiar with matter that the additional employee would not be acquainted 
 with. The employer could ill afford to pay two salaries where now one is paid 
 and there can be little doubt that by the limitation of 8 hours' employment, 
 the compensation of the employee would be decreased in accordance therewith. 
 I'he average female clerk or stenographer in an office is not worked constantly 
 like the employee in a manufacturnig plant or workshop, but at certain hours in 
 the day, often after 5 o'clock, her services are required and while during the day 
 she may have many hours of rest, yet it is absolutely necessary for her to be on 
 hand to attend to matters as they arise even though such time should be beyond 
 the 8-hour period. Very often female stenographers in offices are employed 
 to take dictation at so much a folio, if this bill with its 8-hour limitation 
 applies to her, it would not permit her to work beyond the limitation of 8 
 hours if she desired to do so. It certainly would prevent her from competing 
 \vith male stenographers who would be permitted to work as long as they please. 
 
 (2) EMPLOYMENT IN RETAIL STOKES. 
 
 Concerning employment of females in retail stores or establishments^ if this 
 8-hour measure becomes a law it will be necessary for the employer either 
 to open his store at 8 o'clock and close at 4, or open at 9 and close at 5, either 
 of which would be a great loss to him in business and in profit, or to employ 
 two shifts of employees and certainly this would result in a decrease in salary 
 to his employees, as the employee performing the work for the few hours addi- 
 tional would not be satisfied to only make a salary for these few hours, and the 
 merchant would not permit her to be employed in a similar establishment for 
 obvious reasons, therefore he would be obliged to adjust the matter so as to 
 have half of his female force work, we will say, from 8 to 4, and the other half 
 work from 4 to 6, and then at the end of the week, or the following week, reverse 
 the order, so it will be observed that the clerk now earning a full day's salary 
 would by this arrangement, which would be necessary to enable the merchant to 
 keep open 10 hours, result in the clerk receiving but half the amount she now 
 receives. When you consider the present high cost of living it will be observed 
 how disastrous this would be for the female employee and it would also be 
 harmful to the merchant if he would be obliged to pay the two employees that 
 would be required to perform the work now being performed by one twice the 
 amount of salary he is now paying and it would lessen his profit and compel 
 him to increase his prices, the latter would only result in a higher cost of living 
 and he would soon lose his patronage by reason thereof. There is no necessity 
 for an 8-hour law as applied to stores. Ten hours' service is not unreason- 
 able, the employee has ample time for lunch and when not engaged is permitted 
 to rest — chairs or stools being provided for this purpose — and it certainly seems 
 a fair proposition to ask that stores be exempt from the operation of an S- 
 hour limitation when the merchants are willing to comply with a 10-hour limi- 
 tation. 
 
 The committee. I feel sure, will look at this question not from a theoretical 
 standpoint of enthusiasts who are not familiar with local or mercantile condi- 
 tions, but will consider the question from the viewpoint of the merchant and 
 his employee, neither of whom desire an s-hour limitation. If the local mer- 
 chant, and more especially the small merchant employing but a few female 
 employees, is required by law to limit the service of his female employee to S 
 hours, it will unquestionably force many of them out of business »r into in- 
 solvency, as the small profit now made by these smaller stores will not admit 
 of any additional expense, and they can not raise the prices of merchandise, for 
 they are in competition with the larger stores. 
 
 Considering the question from the viewpoint of the public there is a necessity 
 for at least a 10-hour opening of retail stores and establishments in this city 
 which does not prevail in other cities. The manufacturing departments of the 
 Government, located here, such as the navy yard. Printing Office, and Bureau 
 of Engraving and Printing, require their employees to report at an earlier hour, 
 and many of the Government departments close at 4.30. You will observe that 
 this would give the clerks very little shopping time if the stores, to observe the 
 
HOURS OF LABOE FOR WOMEX IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 167 
 
 8-hour law, would close at 5 o'clock, and would entirely cut them off from 
 shopping if the stores opened at S o'clock and closed at 4. The local mer- 
 chants depend very largely upon the patronage of Government employees, and 
 to limit the time to such a short space would result in great loss to the mer- 
 chant. There can be no question that the 8-hour limitation would seriously 
 affect the stores of Washington — the large stores as well as the smaller stores — 
 buf would more materially affect the smaller merchant, and it hardly seems fair 
 that we should have such a law here when no State in the Union has an 8-hour 
 limitation applying to offices and stores. Wages, or compensation for services, 
 are governed by the law of supply and demand, and the laws of Congress should 
 protect the female clerk so as to permit her to successfully compete with the 
 male clerk. It was many years before women could occupy positions in mer- 
 cantile establishments theretofore occupied by men. and now when they are 
 employed in such positions the 8-hour limitation, if enacted under the law. 
 would relegate them to the position of being worth less to their employer by 
 reason of not being able to serve as long as the male clerk. The merchant is 
 willing and anxious to employ female help, but he can only afford to do so if 
 he can obtain from them services as satisfactory as he can obtain from his 
 male employee, and it can not be disputed that if you reduce the hours of 
 employment of a female clerk you certainly reduce her earning capacity, 
 whether the merchant closes his store at the expiration of the 8-hour limitation 
 or he employs additional clerks to enable him to keep open until 6 o'clock, as 
 he desires to do, and it is absolutely necessary that he do so lo enable him to 
 sell his merchandise and exist. This especially applies to a merchant doing 
 a moderate business. 
 
 It is respectfully submitted that the amendment presented is reasonable and 
 fair and fully protects the female employee, while to include such a female 
 employee in the 8-hour limitation would result to her financial loss. 
 Yery respectfully. 
 
 Joseph I. Weller. 
 
 Department of Commerce and Labor. 
 
 Bureau of the Census, 
 Washington, January 27, 1913. 
 
 Hon. William B. Wilson, 
 
 House of Representatives, Washington, D. G. 
 My Deak Mr. Wilson : In reply to your letter of January 24, I send you here- 
 with a copy of the press notice recently issued by this bureau on the occupations 
 of the gainfully employed females 16 years of age and over in the District of 
 Columbia, 1910. 
 
 Yery respectfully, E. Dana Duband, Director. 
 
 Occupations of the Gainfully Employed Females 10 Years of Age and Over 
 in the District of Columbia, 1910. 
 
 preliminary thirteenth census statistics issued by the census bureau. 
 
 Washington, D. C, December — , 1912. 
 
 On April 15, 1910, there were in the District of Columbia 52,488 women 16 
 years of age and over who were gainfully employed. These figures are con- 
 tained in a statement issued to-day by Director Durand, of the Bureau of the 
 Census, Department of Commerce and Labor. The statistics were prepared 
 under the direction of Willian C. Hunt, chief statistician for population in 
 the Bureau of the Census, and are subject to revision. While the figures are 
 preliminary, it is believed that there will be no important changes in them. 
 It is probable, however, that the form in which they are here given will differ 
 slightly from that in which they will be presented in the forthcoming report 
 on occupations. . 
 
 The figures given in this preliminary statement refer only to the gainfully 
 employed women 16 years of age and over ; but provisional figures tabulated by 
 the Bureau of the Census show that there were also 7 girls 6 to 9 years of age 
 and 432 girls 10 to 15 Years of age, making a total of 52,927 females gainfully 
 
168 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 employed in the District of Columbia on April 15, 1910. This is 30.6 per cent 
 of all the females of the District on that date, or 36 per cent of the females 10 
 years of age and over. 
 
 Of the gainfully employed women 16 years of age and over, 13. < per cent 
 were from 16 to 20 years of age, 64.9 per cent were from 21 to 44 years of age, 
 and 21.4 per cent were 45 years of age and over. The table shows that but 
 few of the women were engaged in agricultural pursuits, and that outside of 
 the needle trades— dressmakers, milliners, seamstresses, and tailoresses— no 
 manufacturing pursuit gave employment to a large number of them. The only 
 pursuits in transportation in which women were numerically important were 
 telegraph operators and telephone operators. In trade, clerks in stores, sales- 
 women, and wholesale and retail dealers constituted more than nine-tenths of 
 all the women workers in that group. Only a small number of women were 
 engaged in the occupations classified under public service, the clerks in the 
 Government departments being classified elsewhere. Outside of the artists, 
 the musicians, the teachers, and the trained nurses, no occupation in profes- 
 sional service was represented by a large number of women. Here, however, 
 the occupations assume importance because of the iutelluctual attainments of 
 the persons pursuing them rather than because of the number of these persons. 
 It is significant that women were so well represented in so many of the leading 
 professions. But it is in the pursuits grouped under domestic and personal 
 service that we find more than one-half of all the women workers. This is due 
 largely to the fact that fully half of the gainfully employed women of the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia were colored, and that five out of six of these colored women 
 were engaged in the pursuits here classified under domestic and personal service. 
 Strictly clerical occupations gave employment to 8,328 women — to almost one 
 woman worker in six — including the more than 5.000 women clerks and stenog- 
 raphers in the Government departments. 
 
 Occupations of the gainfully employed females. 16 years of age and over in the 
 District of Columbia, 1910. 
 
 Age periods : 
 
 16 years and over 52,488 
 
 16-20 years, inclusive 7,177 
 
 21-44 years, inclusive 34,064 
 
 45 years and over..- 11,247 
 
 Occupations : 
 
 Agricultural pursuits — 
 
 1. Farmers and dairy farmers 12 
 
 2. Farm and dairy farm laborers 12 
 
 3. Gardeners 8 
 
 4. Garden and greenhouse laborers 10 
 
 Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits — 
 
 5. Apprentices 108 
 
 6. Bakers 19 
 
 7. Builders and building contractors 5 
 
 8. Clothing cutters J 9 
 
 9 Compositors, linotypers, printers, and typesetters 162 
 
 10. Dressmakers 3, 251 
 
 11. Engravers 8 
 
 12. Foremen and overseers 35 
 
 . 13. Inspectors 64 
 
 14. Laborers (not otherwise reported) 216 
 
 15. Managers and superintendents 15 
 
 16. Manufacturers and officials 29 
 
 17. Milliners 522 
 
 18. Pressmen (printing) 63 
 
 19. Seamstresses (not in factories) 936 
 
 20. Semiskilled occupations (not otherwise reported) 1,209 
 
 21. Sewers and sewing-machine operators (factory) 87 
 
 22. Shoemakers and cobblers (not in factory) 4 
 
 23. Skilled occupations (not otherwise reported) 15 
 
 24. Tailoresses.. ' 262 
 
 25. Upholsterers 3 
 
HOUBS OP LABOE FOE WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 169 
 
 Occupations — Continued. 
 Transportation — 
 
 26. Foremen and overseers - 6 
 
 27. Laborers 51 
 
 28. Managers and superintendents 3 
 
 29. Postmasters 3 
 
 30. Owners and proprietors 9 
 
 31. Telegraph operators TO 
 
 32. Telephone operators 436 
 
 33. Other occupations , 22 
 
 Trade — 
 
 34. Brokers and money lenders 4 
 
 35. Bundle and cash girls 39 
 
 36. Clerks in stores * 1,029 
 
 37. Demonstrators 25 
 
 38. Employment-office keepers 4 
 
 39. Floorwalkers, foremen, and overseers 16 
 
 40. Insurance agents 10 
 
 41. Laborers in trade 34 
 
 42. Officials and superintendents of other trade companies 3 
 
 43. Real estate officials and agents 17 
 
 44. Sales agents and commercial travelers 15 
 
 45. Saleswomen 1. 440 
 
 46. Undertakers 5 
 
 47. Wholesale and retail dealers 610 
 
 48. Other occupations (semiskilled) 8 
 
 Public service — 
 
 49. Appraisers, inspectors, gaugers, and weighers 59 
 
 50. City and county officials 11 
 
 51. Federal officials 6 
 
 52. Laborers (public service) 170 
 
 53. Probation officers, guards, and watchmen 10 
 
 - 54. Other occupations (semiskilled) 31 
 
 Professional service — 
 
 55. Actors and showmen 34 
 
 56. Architects, designers, and draftsmen 60 
 
 57. Artists, sculptors, and teachers of art 189 
 
 58. Authors, editors, and journalists 88 
 
 59. Chemists, assayers, and metallurgists T S 
 
 60. Clergymen * 
 
 61. College presidents and professors 50 
 
 62. Dentists , 1- 
 
 63. Lawyers , 21 
 
 64. Librarians 24 
 
 65. Musicians and teachers of music 44i 
 
 66. Photographers 25 
 
 67. Physicians and surgeons 77 
 
 68. Reporters 28 
 
 69. Secretaries of schools and colleges 13 
 
 70. Teachers 2 > 239 
 
 71. Trained nurses.! *->2 
 
 72. Other literary persons 39 
 
 73. Other scientific persons 24 
 
 Semiprofessional pursuits— 
 
 74. Abstractors and notaries public 12 
 
 75. Fortune tellers, hypnotists, spiritualists, etc 17 
 
 76. Healers (other than physicians and surgeons) 4S 
 
 77. Officials of lodges, societies, etc 26 
 
 78. Religious and charity workers 8S 
 
 Attendants and helpers in professional service— 
 
 79. Doctors' and dentists' assistants and attendants 2M 
 
 80.' Librarians' assistants 10 S 
 
 81. Laborers connected with professional service _•* 
 
 * Some of the women returned as " clerks " probably are saleswomen. 
 
170 HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Occupations — Continued. 
 
 Domestic and personal service — 
 
 82. Barbers and hairdressers f^l 
 
 S3. Boarding and lodging housekeepers &* 
 
 84. Cleaners and renovators (carpets, clothing, etc.) 33 
 
 so. Cooks 3, 925 
 
 86. Hotel keepers and managers 23 
 
 87. Housekeepers and stewards 636 
 
 ss. Janitors and sextons 314 
 
 89. Laborers connected with domestic and personal service 12 
 
 90. Laundresses (not in laundries) 7,909 
 
 91. Laundry operatives 712 
 
 !)2. Messengers, errand, and office girls 43 
 
 !)3. Midwives 33 
 
 94. Nurses (not trained) 946 
 
 95. Restaurant, cafe, and lunch-room keepers 358 
 
 96. Saloon keepers and bartenders 22 
 
 Servants and waiters — 
 
 1)7. Chambermaids 504 
 
 OS. Charwomen, cleaners, and sweepers 721 
 
 99. Personal servants, ladies' maids, nurse girls, etc 234 
 
 1()0. Other servants 10,452 
 
 101. Waiters ; 674 
 
 Other pursuits in domestic and personal service — 
 
 102. Bathouse keepers and attendants 15 
 
 103. Guides 10 
 
 104. Keepers of benevolent, charitable, and penal institutions — 19 
 
 105. Manicurists 59 
 
 106. Other and not specified 10 
 
 Clerical occupations not peculiar to any industry or service group — 
 
 107. Accountants and auditors 73 
 
 108. Agents, canvassers, and collectors 33 
 
 109. Bookkeepers, cashiers, and ticket agents 1,155 
 
 110. Clerks - 5, 031 
 
 111. Stenographers and typewriters 2,036 
 
 STATEMENT OF CONSTANCE I). LEUPP, lSlo SIXTEENTH STREET, WASHINGTON, D. C, 
 VICE PRESIDENT OF THE CONSUMERS' LEAGUE OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee : 
 
 Many times in the course of these hearings allusion has been made to the 
 fact that people have come here from California and New York to speak in 
 favor of this bill, and the implication has been made that the people of the 
 District of Columbia do not want it passed. 
 
 To correct this impression I wish to state that the Consumers' League of the 
 District of Columbia stands solidly behind this bill, and I beg to call attention 
 to the indorsement given to it by the District Commissioners on pages 6 and 7 
 of the testimony before the Senate committee; also to my own testimony on 
 pages 73 and 74 listing the indorsements given by disinterested local organi- 
 zations. 
 
 Again and again we have been asked why the wonjen who would be affected 
 by this bill, should it become law, have not appeared here in favor of it. A 
 minute's thought on this matter will surely convince any fair-minded person 
 that should women appear here in favor of a bill which their employers oppose 
 it would almost inevitably result in the loss of their positions; nor could they 
 find it easy to get new ones. The women themselves appreciate this fact I 
 am authorized by Senator La Follette, who introduced the bill into the Senate, 
 to say that he has received many letters from, and even had interviews with, 
 women workers who declared that great numbers of them were in favor of the 
 bill, but did not dare appear publicly in its behalf for fear of losing their posi- 
 tions. The backers of the bill are satisfied from the conversations they have 
 had with the women, yes, and even with the men in department stores that there 
 is a strong sentiment among them in favor of the bill. They are watching 
 these hearings through the newspapers with the greatest interest. 
 
 1 Other than proprietary, supervisory, and clerical persons. 
 
 2 Except clerks in stores. 
 
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 171 
 
 As to the testimony given before this committee by the residents of New 
 York and California, I beg to state that when the advocates of this bill met to 
 consider who should be asked to come here and speak, it seemed a reasonable 
 procedure to enlist the services of those people who were familiar with the 
 results of parallel legislation in other communities. 
 
 Those of us who have testified either for or against the bill merely from a 
 familiarity, however thorough, with conditions in the District are, at the best, 
 only guessing as to the results of this law if it is enacted. 
 
 Therefore it seemed to us. the advocates, that the intelligent course to pursue 
 was to have presented before you the testimony of those who really know how 
 such lgislation has worked elsewhere. 
 
 Miss Younger, in her statement the first day here and later in the Senate, 
 answered many objections which have been raised since by those who evidently 
 did not hear her as to the actual working out of the law in California (pp. 
 12-16 of the Senate hearings). Her statement was corroborated by Senator 
 Works ,of California (p. 56), and on page 24 by Miss von der Meinburg, of the 
 Bureau of Labor; on page 30 Mr. McCall states that in Massachusetts the same 
 results have been observed, namely, that a reduction of the working hours of 
 women has not resulted in the displacement of Women by men, nor does it seem 
 to have reduced wages. The operation of the law has. contrary to the expecta- 
 tions of many, left both employer and employee satisfied. 
 
 From Mrs. Kelley and Miss Goldmark, both of whom have spent many years 
 i:i the study of the effects of such restrictive legislation both in this country 
 and in Europe, we have a similar opinion. 
 
 Please remember, gentlemen, that every one of the above-mentioned persons 
 is totally disinterested in this matter; and that fact, in the eyes of those of 
 ns of Washington who are anxious to see this bill become law. gives their 
 opinions particular weight. 
 
 For, let me explain right here, in regard to Mrs. Kelley and Miss Goldmark, 
 that it is not the function of the Consumers' League to urge arbitrary laws in 
 favor of worsen. Our object, both in the local and the national league, is to 
 determine what number of hours, in various industries, is a reasonable one for 
 women workers if both their health and their efficiency is to be considered. 
 This bill represents an attempt to enact into law for the District of Columbia 
 standards which have proved successful elsewhere in the industries which it 
 covers. 
 
 We feel that the opponents of this bill are basing their opposition on a mis- 
 understanding — one which is perhaps not unnatural to persons who have not 
 made a close study of the workings of such a law. We base our advocacy of 
 this measure on two things: 
 
 (1) Primarily, on the benefit we believe will be derived by the women 
 employed in the industries covered. 
 
 (2) On the belief that the employer can not lose by this legislation. 
 
 The three classes of industry from which protests against this bill as drafted 
 bave been loudest are : 
 
 (1) The department stores. 
 
 (2) The laundries. 
 
 (3) The tailors. 
 
 For the department stores, is it not conceivable that they can continue to 
 maintain their hours of S to G by having the saleswomen who come at 8 leave 
 at 5 and those who stav until 6 come at 9? This would give a full comple- 
 ment of clerks throughout the busy hours of the day. If it proves impossible 
 to cam- on a successful business without the night openings a week before 
 Christmas and the late hours on Saturdays, can not a similar series of shifts 
 Kp used. ^ 
 
 We believe firmly— and we base our belief on the cumulative evidence of 
 other communities— that such a system would result in a staff of saleswomen 
 so much more alert and so much less prone to mistakes than now during the 
 rush season that the manager would find that the law cost him some trouble, 
 perhaps, to make the rearrangement, but little or no expense. 
 
 If we are satisfied that 8 hours are long enough for a woman to wo k at 
 the exacting task of waiting on people, constantly on her teel. constantly on 
 the qui viv! not to miss a sale, and under the nervous strain of remaining 
 pleasant tempered, however unreasonable and abusive customers may be. if we 
 are convinced of this, and if it should prove that stores can not run on an 
 8-honr basis «'ith a reasonable profit, then is it not fair that the burden of 
 
172 HOUKS OP LABOR FOR WOMEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 maintaining proper standards should be shifted to the shoulders of the con- 
 suming public through .increased prices? While the increasing cost of living 
 is not a very popular phenomenon with the American public, we still maintain 
 that the average American citizen does not want bargains at the expense of 
 the happiness and health of the young working women of the nation. 
 
 Exactly the same rule applies to the tailors' establishments and the laundries. 
 Both these industries, we have been told by these gentlemen, are characterized 
 by alternate busy and slack seasons. This question of seasonal work has long 
 been recognized by those who have given any thought to the subject as one of 
 the very worst features of our present industrial system. 
 
 When you trace this demon of rush season and its natural concomitant 
 of "lay-off and no pay" back to its original source, you will find that it 
 nearly always comes back to the carelessness of the purchasing public. Why 
 should any woman order a suit three days before Easter and expect to wear 
 it on Easter? She is not conscious of what this- sort of order means in 
 the workroom, and while it is the object of the Consumers' League to make 
 her aware of it, no amount of conscience arousing on the part of a philanthopic 
 organization can ever change human nature in bulk. Just so long as the tailor 
 will smilingly fill rush orders, just so long will he receive them. The same ap- 
 plies to the laundries, and the same applies to the printers. 
 
 The customer has to be disciplined by finding that his rush order can nol be 
 filled. And inasmuch as it would be unpleasant, not to say disastrous, for the 
 tailor or laundiyman or printer to discipline his own customers in a world full 
 of competition, we have come to the rescue of the humane, the conscientious 
 business man, the man who really wants to do the fair thing by his employees, 
 .with out 8-hour bill. 
 
 Believe me, gentlemen [to merchants, tailors, etc.]. should your customers 
 learn that no one would guarantee to deliver those inexcusable hurry orders, 
 they would be annoyed, but, inasmuch as people must have suits to wear, must 
 have clean linen, must have stationery and printing, you would not lose those 
 orders, and the next order you would have in time. 
 
 The tailors' busy season would soon extend over more months, bringing equita- 
 ble work and wages to employees over longer periods of time. Even business, 
 men would learn to order a fresh supply of letterheads before they had used up 
 the last sheets in their desks. Hotel managers would learn the wisdom of own- 
 ing two sets of linen, and the commercial traveler, making his one-night stand 
 at a Washington hotel, would be driven, perhaps, to the cruel necessity of own- 
 ing nine instead of six collars. Please believe, gentlemen, that while the public 
 may learn consideration through the enactment of an 8-hour law, business would 
 really not be paralyzed by it. 
 
 . The Chairman. Tf there is nothing further the committee will, 
 stand adjourned. 
 
 X 
 

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