“Actual ill-treatment by employers seems to be infrequent....  Foreigners are often found to be more considerate of their help than native-born men, and the kindest proprietor in the world is a Jew of the better class.  In some shops week-workers are locked out for the half-day if late, or docked for every minute of time lost, an extra fine being often added.  Piece workers have great freedom as to hours, and employers complain much of tardiness and absenteeism.  The mere existence of health and labor laws insures privileges formerly unheard of; half-holidays in summer, vacation with pay, and shorter hours are becoming every year more frequent, better workshops are constructed, and more comfortable accommodations are being furnished.”

This is most certainly true, but more light shows the shadows even more clearly; and the fact remains that every force must be brought to bear, to remedy the evils depicted in the reports of the bureaus quoted here.

The general conditions of working-women in New York retail stores were reported upon, in 1890, by a committee from the Working-Woman’s Society, at 27 Clinton Place, New York.  The report was read at a mass meeting held at Chickering Hall, May 6, 1890; and its statements represent general conditions in all the large cities of the United States.  It is impossible to give more than the principal points of the report; but readers can obtain it on application to the Secretary of the Association.[47] These are as follows:—­

Hours are often excessive, and employees are not paid for over-time.  Many stores give no half-holiday, and keep open on Saturdays till ten and eleven o’clock in the evening, and at the holiday season do this for three or four weeks nightly.

Sanitary conditions are usually bad, and include bad ventilation, unsanitary arrangements, and indifference to the considerations of decency.  Toilet arrangements in many stores are horrible, and closets for male and female are often side by side, with only slight partition between.  One hand-basin and towel serve for all.  Often water for drink can be obtained only from the attic.

Numbers of children under age are employed for excessive hours, and at work far beyond their strength, an investigation having shown that over one hundred thousand children under the legal age of fourteen were at work in factories, workshops, and stores.

Service for a number of years often meets with no consideration, but is regarded as a reason for dismissal.  It is the rule in some stores to keep no one over five years, lest they come to feel that they have some claim on the firm; and when a saleswoman is dismissed from one house, she finds it almost impossible to obtain employment in another.

The wages are reduced by excessive fines, employers placing a value upon time lost that is not given to services rendered.  The fines run from five to thirty cents for a few minutes’ tardiness.  In some stores the fines are divided at the end of the year between the timekeeper and the superintendent, and there is thus every temptation to injustice.