=105. Keepers of Fancy Stores.= A fancy store pays well when a good connection is established, but it takes time for that. Business is moving up street in New York, and of course fancy stores with it. Some unite millinery with the sale of fancy goods. The prices paid to those who stand in such stores, vary greatly. They are given under the head of Saleswomen.
=106. Gentlemen's Furnishing Stores.= A great many women are employed in this business, and many more might be. The making of gentlemen's robes furnishes in itself quite a business in cities; also the making of cravats, collars, hemming handkerchiefs, and odd work to be done. Mrs. M. told me she has a girl that assists in the house, and stays in the store when not so occupied, and receives for her services $6 a month and her board. Madame P. pays $3 to each of her operators (ten hours a day), and to one superior operator $4. She pays $3.50 a week to a button-hole maker. That is made a separate branch of sewing. Fourteen is the usual number of button holes in a shirt, and some employers pay one cent apiece; some, one and a half; and for large ones, in which studs or sleeve buttons are worn, two cents apiece. Some men are very particular about the make and fit of their shirts. Madame P. gets $2.50 a dozen for shirts from a store down street, and $4.50 for shirts from a store up street. Ordered work pays best. Her great trouble is that she does not get constant employment. For awhile she sunk in her business from $4 to $5 a week. Mr. P. says, whenever business is dull in New York city, it is, of course, wherever work is done to supply the city. He takes learners in busy times. Mr. D., who employs 2,000 hands in his factory at New Haven, has discharged them all; also Mr. H., who employs 1,000; and Messrs. M. & H., who employ as many. He thinks, when business revives, there will be work enough for all in this line, and even more. Shirts are such an essential part of a man's wardrobe, that as long as men exist, shirts must be made. With the many improvements in sewing machines, Mr. P. has shirts, when cut out, given to the operator, and turned from the machine complete, with the exception of buttons and button holes. No basters are employed. All the felling is done by a feller, and all the hemming by a hemmer. He furnishes his operators with machines. He employs men to cut, because they do it faster than women. They cut with a knife twenty-four thicknesses of cloth. All factories furnish machines and needles. Troy is the great place for making shirt collars. The girls are paid by the piece in these factories, and the employers will not permit them to work more than eight hours a day, as they do not wish them to lose their health. A girl is not retained in these collar factories that cannot earn $7 a week--eight hours a day. The machines are moved by steam.