Making Both Ends Meet | Page 6

her daily working time of nine hours was
less severe than that of the knitting mill. In summer she had a Saturday
half-holiday. There was a system of fines for lateness; but on the rare
occasions of her own tardiness it had not been enforced. The company
was also generous in grafting five-o'clock passes, which permitted a
girl to leave at five in the afternoon, with no deduction from her wage
for the free hour. She had been with this establishment for six years,
earning $6 a week; and she had given up hope of advancing.
Miss Carr said that her work in the shoe department was exhausting,
because of the stooping, the frequent sitting down and rising, and the
effort of pulling shoes on and off. In the summer preceding the fall
when she told of her experience in the store, she had, in reaching for a
box of shoes, strained her heart in some way, so that she lost
consciousness immediately, and was ill for seven weeks. She failed to
recuperate as rapidly as she should have done, because she was so
completely devitalized by overwork.
The firm was very good to her at this time, sending a doctor daily until
she was in condition to go to the country. It then paid her expenses for
two weeks in a country home of the Young Women's Christian
Association, and during the three remaining weeks of her stay paid her
full wage. Miss Carr praised this company's general care of the
employees. A doctor and nurse were available without charge if a girl
were ill in the store. A social secretary was employed.
Miss Carr lived in a furnished room with two other women, each
paying a dollar a week rent. She cared nothing for her fellow-lodgers;

her only reason for spending her time with them in such close quarters
was her need of living cheaply. She cooked her breakfast and supper in
the crowded room, at an expense of $1.95 a week. She said that her
"hearty" meal was a noon dinner, for which she paid in a restaurant 15
cents a day.
After her experience in the summer, she realized that she should assure
herself of income in case of illness. She joined a benefit society, to
which she paid 50 cents a month. This promised a weekly benefit of $4
a week for thirteen weeks, and $200 at death. She paid also 10 cents a
week for insurance in another company.
The room was within walking distance of the store, so that she spent
nothing for carfare. The services and social life of a church were her
chief happiness. Besides her contributions to its support, she had spent
only $1 a year on "good times." She did her own washing.
Her outlay in health in these years had been extreme. She was very
worn, thin, and wrinkled with hard work, severe economies, and
anxiety, although she was still in what should have been the prime of
life.
Her weekly budget was: lodging, $1; board, $1.95; luncheons, $1.05;
insurance, 21 cents; clothing, contributions to church, occasional
carfare, and other expenses, $1.79; total, $6.
Miss Carr said that her firm was generous in many of its policies, but
she felt it profoundly discouraging not to advance to a wage that would
permit decent living.
In connection with Miss Carr's budget the benefit system of New York
stores should be mentioned. In many of the large department stores,
monthly dues, varying with the wage of the employee, are deducted
from the pay of each, although in many cases she does not know what
the return for the dues is to be. These dues assure to her, while she
remains in the store's employ, a weekly benefit in case of illness, and a
death benefit. But if she leaves the store, or is discharged, the
management retains the amount she has been forced to pay to it, and

gives no return whatever in case of her subsequent sickness or death.
While she is in the store's employ, the sick benefit varies from one-half
the girl's wage to a regular payment of $5 a week for from five to
thirteen weeks, according to the particular rules in each store. The
employee must be ill five days or a week in order to draw it. Otherwise
she is docked for absence.
The Mutual Benefit Fund of the New York Association of Working
Girls' Societies has in this respect a better policy than the stores.
Members of the clubs pay 55 cents a month for a benefit of $5 for six
weeks in any one year, and 20 cents a month for a benefit of $3.
Cessation of membership in a club does not terminate connection with
the benefit fund, unless the reason for leaving