-------------+-----------+---------------+-------- | | 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). Turning to mercantile houses we also find a great contrast. Some provide only half a dozen chairs for five hundred girls, while others do not allow chairs to be used at all.[37] Many stores have a working week at Christmas of from seventy-two to eighty-four hours without extra pay (Butler, l. c., p. 303). "Some employers are generally reputed among salesgirls to assume that their women employees secure financial backing from outside relationships, and knowingly pay wages that are supplementary rather than wages large enough to cover the cost of a girl's support." (L. c., p. 306.) Indeed, some employers frankly admit this and advertise for sales-women, "preferably those living at home."[38]