After the cloth is dry and passed through calendering machines where men are employed, it is run into yard lengths by a yarding machine or “hooker.”  At the yarding machines the girls stand under the frame holding the wooden arms that measure off the cloth back and forth.  The workers here used to earn $7.50 a week.  They watch the machine, mark defects in some kinds of cloth, by inserting slips of paper, stop the machine when the material runs out, and lift the pile of measured cloth to a table where it is taken up by the cutters and folders and inspectors.

After the bonus system was introduced at the machines where the heavier material is measured, the yarding machines were all elevated to small platforms, so that the pile when finished would be on a level with an adjacent table, and the worker need not lift and carry the heavy weight of cloth to the table, but could slide the work.  The machine was run more rapidly.  The task was increased to about 35,000 yards, or from about 155 pieces to about 610.  The wage with the bonus was now about $10 on full time, and the hours were lessened 45 minutes, as at the tentering machines.

The worker stops the yarding machine by throwing her weight on her right foot, on a pedal to the right.  The girls interviewed said they did not feel this as a strain, as there was a knack in doing it easily.  On consulting a neighborhood physician it was found that within the last ten years, however, several women, both at the yarding and tentering machines, had strained themselves, probably by the tread at the yarding machine and by the slightly twisted seated position the older tentering machines necessitated.  The number of these cases traceable to any one process of work had not increased under the new system.  The whole number of these cases in the factory had, on the other hand, either decreased under the new system, or else had not come under this doctor’s care.  He believed, however, that there was a reduction of the cases, and that this reduction was attributable to the better general health achieved by shorter hours, better ventilation, and better working conditions and appliances.

[Illustration:  Courtesy of Industrial Engineering

THE USUAL METHOD OF PROVIDING THE BRICKLAYER WITH MATERIAL]

The increased task at the yarding machine seems to have increased the danger of accidents.  A knife extends from the side of the machine; and when the girl’s attention is concentrated on her work, she sometimes puts her fingers too near the blade, and cuts them, though no instance was known here of the loss of a finger or of serious injury.

The girls stand all day at the yarding machine and at most of the succeeding processes of preparation.  These are various arrangements of inspecting, counting yards, folding in “book folds,” of doubled-over material, or “long folds” of the full width, ticketing and stamping, tying selvages together with silk thread, or tying them to wrapping paper by means of a little instrument called a knot-tier—­this process is called knotting—­tying with ribbons, pasting on strips of silver tissue ribbon, further ticketing and stamping, and running the sets of tickets indicating the several yards in each piece through an adding machine, which then produces on a stamped card the total number of yards in each consignment, before it is finally rushed away for shipment.