At any rate we find that many employers do all that can reasonably be expected. For instance, in contrast with the conditions of the garment trade prevailing in many places, the Pittsburgh Survey found two factories in that city to be run on excellent lines. They were well-lighted by large windows, the ventilation was good, the walls newly whitewashed, and the floors swept and scrubbed. In one, indeed, the upper windows were opened at intervals, and the work-rooms had windows on three sides. (Butler, l. c., p. 109.) Nine others were good because they were swept daily and exhibited a manifest standard as to a work-room (l. c., p. 107). One firm, too, was found to allow its employees to share in its progress. Thus when new buttonhole machines were introduced a few years ago the girls could turn out a third more work than formerly, but they were paid at the same piece-rate (l. c., pp. 119-120).
The variation between individual stores as regards wages will be shown from the following table, adapted from page 121 of the first volume of the Pittsburgh Survey:
-------------+-----------+---------------+-------- | | Weekly wages | Article | No. of +-------+-------+ Average manufactured | operators | Min. | Max. | -------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------- Shirts | 15 | $ 6 | $12 | $ 7 Shirts | 1 | 10 | 10 | Shirts | 3 | 8 | 10 | 8 Shirts | 24 | 6 | 8 | 8 Shirts and | | | | Overalls | 39 | 4 | 12 | 8 Overalls | 26 | 6 | 10 | 8 Overalls | 75 | 6 | 10.5 | 7 Shirts | 5 | 7 | 11 | Shirts | 18 | 7 | 14 | 10 Shirts | 51 | 5 | 15 | 8 Shirts | 7 | 6.5 | 12 | 8 Pants | 114 | 4 | 14 | 9 Pants | 37 | 3 | 12 | 8 Pants | 6 | 3 | 9 | 7 Pants | 284 | 4 | 9 | 7 Pants | 10 | 4 | 9 | 8 -------------+-----------+-------+-------+--------
Such differences are reproduced in all the needle trades.[36]
Similar distinctions are also found in laundries. A very few have properly constructed plants, with wash-rooms on the upper floors and some arrangement for carrying off the inevitable steam (Butler, l. c., p. 170). In one, however, there are "exhaust pipes over the mangles, and fans in the walls, and there are windows along the side. The feeders are seated while handling small work, and the folders have comfortable benches" (p. 174). Wages, too, are considerably higher here than in other laundries. Four laundries in Pittsburgh have adopted an improved cuff-ironing machine which saves the operator from the extreme physical exertion of the old style (p. 182). A North Side laundry has set aside a bright sunny section of the building "for a lunch-room; there are attractive dishes, tables covered with white cloths, comfortable chairs. The noon interval is an hour and a half" (p. 312).