_KEY_ U 72 hours and over X over 60 and under 72 hours O 60 hours and under DIAGRAM 6.—Comparison of Weekly Hours of Labor for Women in Restaurants and all Factory Employees in New York State.] Shorter hours have been brought about in factories by the voluntary action of manufacturers, who recognize the inefficiency of over-worked men and women; by concerted action of the workers, who have united to fight for their own protection; and by legal enactment, proving that the people of New York State are alive to the dangers of overwork. Some restaurant managers realize the waste and harm of too long hours and arrange their employees’ time accordingly; most of them do not. Women restaurant workers in New York State have never been successfully organized; they cannot protect themselves. They have no legal redress for overwork; the law has neglected them. In the course of this investigation, a girl of twenty was found working one hundred and twenty-two hours a week—longer than the law allows factory employees to work in two weeks. Yet this is within the law. Although restaurants differ from stores and factories in keeping open more hours a day, and sometimes for the whole twenty-four, a system of shifts would do away with the scandalously long hours to which thousands of girls and women are bound. [Illustration: +--------------------------------------------+ | | | under 15 hrs. X 1% | | 15 and under 25 XXXXXXXX 8% | | 25 and under 35 XXXXXXXXXXX 11% | | 35 and under 45 XXXXXX 6% | | 45 and under 55 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 16% | | 55 and under 65 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD 19% | | 65 and under 75 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD 18% | | 75 and under 85 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD 16% | | 85 and under 95 WWW 3% | | 95 and under 105 W 1% | | 105 hrs. and over W 1% | | | +--------------------------------------------+ _KEY_ X 54 hrs. and under D over 54 and under 85 W 85 hrs. and over DIAGRAM 5.—Weekly Hours of Labor of Women Employed in Restaurants.] That restaurant work is at best a great drain upon the physical strength and nervous force of the worker is evident. Standing, walking, lifting and carrying heavy weights is unavoidable. The report on restaurants made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics says: “There was much complaint among the waitresses that the work was very hard and they could stand it but a few years. A number of the girls interviewed had worked as three meal girls until their health was broken; then they took positions as one meal girls and barely made a living. Carrying the heavy trays and the constant standing and walking cause ill health. Usually a man is employed to carry away the empty dishes, but the waitresses must bring the trays loaded with food.”[5]