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labricoleusePart two, in which we learn that the majority of millinery work in 1914-16 was not at all dissimilar to the employment conditions of the seasonal-theatre costuming industry of the 21st century. Sections of this are more "dry facts-and-figures" than the earlier post i made with the first half of it, but they are interesting if you want to know about pay disparity among experience levels and such.
CONDITIONS OF WORK IN MILLINERY
Comprehensive data in regard to the wages of millinery workers are not available. The State Industrial Commission's figures in the 1914 report are for workers in wholesale houses only. Wherever possible, the Survey gathered actual figures and these are presented as indicative only and not as conclusive data.
WAGES IN RETAIL AND WHOLESALE MILLINERY
The data indicate that wages are considerably lower in retail shops than in either millinery departments in stores or in wholesale houses. In the retail shops there is a striking contrast between the wages of trimmers and of makers.
Sixty-five per cent of the trimmers receive $18 or over, $18 being the rate most commonly received. Trimmers receiving the higher wage scale are really designers. Eighty-five per cent of the trimmers receive $15 or over. The proportion of makers, on the other hand, receiving under $15 is 76 per cent.
The data in regard to makers indicate that the median rate of wage is $8, that is, about the same number of workers earn amounts under $8 as earn amounts over $8. After her two seasons of apprenticeship, a maker starts out on her third season receiving anywhere from $3 to $6 per week. The average is much nearer the lower figure than the higher one. Milliners say that most girls do not receive $8 a week until their sixth season which is at the end of the third year. One of the highest grade millinery shops in the city regularly pays only $5 to girls in their sixth season. If we consider the seasonal character of millinery in connection with wage rates there is no doubt that the first few years of millinery work do not offer a sufficient money return to the self-supporting girl, unless she shows marked ability as a trimmer.
Of the 45 shops, only 22 paid any maker as high as $10. Fifteen of these shops paid as high as $12, six paid as high as $15, and only one paid $16. It can readily be seen that makers have not much chance of advancement in their own line. The smaller shops, as a general rule, have a fixed upper rate, beyond which they do not pay, no matter how expert the maker may become. The more conscientious proprietors explain to their girls that their business does not warrant paying more and advise changing to a wholesale house or to some better paying shop when they become capable of earning more than the fixed rate.
The wages of workers who are employed all the year round are most varied. Table 7 gives a dozen cases of wages of girls employed all the year round.
The busy season referred to in the table lasts from 24 to 32 weeks.
TABLE 7. WAGES OF 12 MILLINERY WORKERS EMPLOYED
THE YEAR ROUND IN RETAIL SHOPS
Workers - Busy season - Dull season
Trimmer - $15.00 - $15.00
Trimmer - $15.00 - $7.50
Head maker - $15.00 - $7.50
Maker - $6.00 - $6.00
Maker - $4.00 - $4.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer and maker) - $14.00 - $14.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer) - $20.00 - $10.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer) - $25.00 - $7.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer) - $8.50 - $7.00
Salesgirl (also maker) - $15.00 - $15.00
Salesgirl (also maker) - $15.00 - $10.00
Salesgirl (also maker) - $5.00 - $5.00
In department stores the median rate for trimmers (most of whom are designers) is $25. A worker becomes an assistant trimmer at $15 and may possibly work up to a wage of $50 or more. Most makers earn between $8 and $12, the average being about $10. Girls with two seasons' experience in small shops or with millinery training are taken on as helpers or as beginning makers at from $4 to $6 and may advance as makers to $15.
In wholesale shops designers earn from $25 to $60 or more. Makers start at about $5 and range from about $10 to $15, and sometimes more. Those who are employed in straight copying may earn between $15 and $20. Data presented by the Industrial Commission of Ohio in its 1914 report show that 37 per cent of women 18 years of age and over employed in wholesale houses earn under $8; 22 per cent earn from $8 to $12, and 41 per cent earn $12 and over. The 32 girls under 18 in these shops were with one exception earning under $4.
WAGES, YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, AND AGES OF WORKERS
The relation of wages to experience in this trade may be seen from a detailed study made in the trade in New York City in which data on this point were gathered for 1,026 milliners.* Table 8 sums up the results of this study.
TABLE 8. RELATION OF WAGES TO EXPERIENCE IN THE MILLINERY TRADE AS SHOWN BY WEEKLY RATES OF WAGES PAID TO WOMEN IN MILLINERY ESTABLISHMENTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO YEARS IN THE TRADE, NEW YORK, 1914
Years in the trade - % of workers - Median rate of wage
Less than 1 year - 8% - $4.09
1 year and less than 2 - 6% - $6.04
2 years and less than 3 - 9% - $7.05
3 years and less than 5 - 21% - $8.99
5 years and less than 7 - 16% - $11.54
7 years and less than 10 - 18% - $13.13
10 years and less than 15 - 15% - $15.24
15 years and less than 20 - 4% - $20.50
20 years or over - 2% - $16.00
The relation of wages to ages of workers may be seen from Table 9, which gives the results of data gathered from 1,027 milliners in regard to ages and weekly rates of wages in millinery establishments in New York City, 1914.*
* Wages in the Millinery Trade. By Mary Van Kleeck. N. Y., 1914.
[Editor's note: I wonder if there are 1,027 milliners in all of New York City today.]
TABLE 9 - RELATION OF WAGES TO AGE IN THE MILLINERY TRADE AS SHOWN BY WEEKLY RATES OF WAGES PAID TO WOMEN IN MILLINERY ESTABLISHMENTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO AGE, NEW YORK, 1914
Age of worker - % of workers - Median rate of wage
Under 16 - 2% of workers - $4.14/week
16 to 18 - 13% of workers - $5.94/week
18 to 21 - 28% of workers - $8.76/week
21 to 25 - 29% of workers - $12.40/week
25 to 30 - 17% of workers - $14.39/week
30 to 35 - 6% of workers - $17.50/week
35 to 40 - 3% of workers - $18.67/week
40 to 45 - 1% of workers - $15.17/week
45 and over - 1% of workers - $20.00/week
These data show what the other data only roughly indicated that high wages are not attained by a large proportion of millinery workers in general, and certainly not until after considerable experience in the trade.
SEASONAL CHARACTER OF MILLINERY
Millinery has the well-earned reputation of being the most seasonal of trades. Nevertheless, heads of wholesale houses and millinery departments in stores tell us that this trade is destined to become an all-year-round business because of the increase in the wear of between-season hats. In a few of the exclusive custom shops work is carried on practically the year round, and in some of the small retail shops the seasons are stretched out so that there is now less work during rush seasons and more work during the dull than formerly, thus making employment more regular.
All these are hopeful signs; but they by no means indicate the solution of the seasonal problem. In many of the retail shops the milliners say that seasons are shorter than they used to be. One first-class milliner, who during her business of 20 years' standing has always employed her girls the year round, says that for the first time this year she is forced by the shortness of seasons to make a 14 weeks' agreement with workers.
The most significant sign in regard to the seasonal aspect of millinery lies in the almost invariable negative replies given by milliners when they are questioned as to the advisability of girls deliberately going into millinery work. With but two or three exceptions employers declared that they would not advise a girl to go into millinery unless she had exceptional ability so that she would get to the top immediately; or unless she could be supported by her family for three or four years until she reached a high wage mark; or unless she lived at home and had only partially to support herself. One proprietor who seemed fairly successful said that if she had 12 daughters, she would not let one of them be a milliner. The few employers who considered millinery satisfactory work were those whose workers were busy practically the year round and who believed that such a condition was possible in all shops if employers would keep up with the times by continually providing new styles for their customers.
There is abundant evidence to show that many girls leave millinery on account of its seasonal character to go into other sorts of work. Instances were recounted of millinery workers who left their well- paid seasonal job to take an all-year-round low-paid job. One case was that of a girl in wholesale millinery receiving $10 a week for 40 weeks during the year who left to take an all-year-round position in a different line of work at $8.
WHAT THE MILLINERY SEASONS ARE
That there is a wide difference among the various shops in regard to seasonal activity is apparent. Shops were visited between the middle of December and the middle of January. This was the first part of the so-called dull winter season for the retail shops and the beginning of the spring work for the wholesale houses. Among the retail shops ostensibly doing no work at all several were found with locked doors; some were being moved to other parts of the city; while a few were undergoing a thorough house-cleaning. In two or three shops the girl on duty stated that the proprietor was in New York to "get the new spring styles." In a few shops the proprietor was doing a little millinery work while she waited for chance customers.
In a few workrooms the proprietor with one or two workers was starting preparations for an early spring opening. In some of the fashionable shops customers were getting their going-south hats and a good-sized working force was busy filling orders on short notice.
At this time telephone conversations were carried on in some of the retail shops arranging for employment of workers in the wholesale houses. In the wholesale houses the spring work was already going with a zest, the spring opening was in prospect, and retail workers were applying for temporary positions.
In most retail shops the spring season begins about the first of March and lasts until the first of July, or in the popular phrase it is from "a little before Easter to the Fourth of July." In similar parlance the fall season is from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, or more exactly from the first of September to the first of December in about two-thirds of the shops and until Christmas in about one-third. In the millinery departments in stores the spring season is somewhat earlier than in retail shops, but the fall season is practically the same. In the wholesale houses the seasons are earlier.
NUMBER OF WEEKS OF WORK
Employment is offered in the majority of the small shops for about 32 weeks in the year; in the millinery departments of the stores for from 32 to 42 weeks; and in the wholesale houses for 40 weeks.
Only the most careful case study could show just what proportion of workers are employed for different specified numbers of weeks during the year. It is sufficient for our purpose to indicate roughly for what periods workers were engaged in 1914.
In 19 out of the 45 retail shops some girls were kept the year round. In most shops only one girl was kept. In one shop nine girls out of 19 had work all the year. In another all the girls who were absolutely dependent on their own resources were employed the whole year, while the rest of the workers received equal shares of layoff during a short dull season. In a third shop all the girls had from 44 to 46 weeks' work, which was more than many of them wanted.
One department store kept its small force of workers the entire year. In another two of the head workers received 44 weeks while the remainder of the force averaged 32 weeks. In a third all the trimmers and one-half of the makers were employed the whole year. In another, 81 per cent were employed from 30 to 41 weeks; 10 per cent, 45 weeks; six per cent, 50 weeks; while the remaining three were employed less than 30 weeks. In still another a regular force of workers was employed 42 weeks of the year; while a large number of temporary workers are put on extra to supply labor at busy times.
In the wholesale houses some of the head workers are employed the year round while the main force has work during about 40 weeks. The fluctuation in the employment of workers in wholesale houses may be seen from Diagram 4, which shows the proportion employed, according to the Industrial Commission of Ohio, on the 15th of each month in Cleveland in 1914.
DIFFICULT PROBLEM OF THE DULL SEASON
The majority of millinery workers are faced with the problem of tiding themselves over two dull seasons of considerable length, aggregating for the year from 12 to 28 weeks. Twice a year approximately 17 girls out of 20 in the retail shops are laid off because the season is over. The difficulty of solving such a problem can be appreciated if we consider that this means that a self-supporting girl must get at least two extra jobs a year, one in the summer and another in the winter, even if she is engaged regularly from season to season in the same millinery shop. This means that she must have at least two kinds of wage-earning ability.
We have spoken of the considerable proportion of workers in the small retail millinery shops who live at home and who are merely earning some extra money or only partially supporting themselves. These girls can remain at home during the dull season and help with family duties. There is also a small proportion, mostly trimmers, who make enough money during the busy season to maintain themselves decently during dull periods. The trimmer who has 32 weeks' work at the usual trimmer's wage of $18, has $11 a week to live on if she is able to distribute her money evenly over the whole year of 52 weeks. This reduces to some extent the size of the problem of employment for millinery workers during dull seasons, but it leaves the problem none the less difficult to solve.
In the matter of dull season work there is first of all to be considered the interchange of workers between wholesale houses and retail shops. Although the retail millinery proprietors speak of the wholesale houses as supplying work to their employees during the retail dull season, the situation is not so looked upon by the wholesale houses themselves.
While the better of these temporary workers may be employed for a considerable period if they so desire, an average of a week or two of work during a season may be considered the amount of employment in wholesale houses secured by the average temporary worker. From a close estimate it is likely that in Cleveland not more than 500 workers regularly employed in retail shops in the busy season have the advantage of this arrangement. These temporary workers in the wholesale houses receive a uniform wage of $1 a day. The $20 a week retail milliner receives the same wage as the $4 a week maker. Certainly, then, from the standpoint of length of period of employment and wage paid, the wholesale house cannot be considered as furnishing much assistance for the average retail millinery girl. Probably the work most frequently engaged in by milliners during dull seasons is selling hi the large stores. In the stores which have millinery departments, an effort is made to transfer from the workroom during the dull seasons every girl who has any selling ability. Heads of departments speak of patiently trying out a girl in several different departments to develop her selling ability. Those girls who are unable to sell are kept in the workroom as long as possible. Some of the proprietors of stores frankly say, however, that they cannot place all their own millinery workers who need positions.
HOURS OF LABOR
Nominal working hours are almost always 54 a week, but two-thirds of the shops visited kept open from one to six evenings a week. The workroom girls are not always kept for evening work. In only one case among the shops visited were girls kept every evening. In some instances girls stay Saturday night until 9 or 10, but very often only the trimmer stays. When girls work evenings, the rule is that they are usually allowed a morning off during the week, but this is not always adhered to. In one instance girls who worked in wholesale houses during the day were occasionally taken on as extra workers to help out at night during busy times.
The 54-hour legal working week for women has made overtime work during the rush season legally impossible for employees, not for employers. Many employers visited spoke of the terrible strain lasting for two months twice a year when they sat up practically every night until very late working alone. It is a well known fact, however, that violations of the 10-hour daily limit and 54-hour weekly limit for employees are extremely common.
[Editor's note: That breaks down to a 6-day work-week of 9-hour-long workdays being the legal norm at the time. Bear in mind too that women can't legally vote yet in 1916.]
SUMMARY
Available data indicate that the wages of workers in retail shops are lower in general than the wages of workers in millinery departments in stores and in wholesale houses. Makers in retail shops earn from $3 to $16 a week, the average being about $8. Trimmers earn from $10 to $40, with an average of about $18. Out of 45 retail shops, only 22 paid as high as $10 to any maker; 15 paid as high as $12; six paid as high as $15; and only one paid over $15.
In millinery departments in stores, trimmers, who are largely designers, earn from $15 to $50 a week or more. The rate most commonly received is $25. Makers are started at from $4 to $6 and may advance to $15, with an average of about $10.
In wholesale houses designers earn from $25 to or more. Makers start at about $5 and range from $10 to $15, and sometimes more. Those employed in straight copying may earn between $15 and $20. The 1914 report of the Industrial Commission of Ohio presents data showing that of the women 18 years of age and over employed in wholesale houses, 37 per cent receive under $8; and 22 per cent receive between $8 and $12; while 41 per cent receive $12 and over. The 32 girls under 18 years of age employed in wholesale houses were with one exception receiving under $4 per week.
A study of the relation of wages to years of experience and ages of workers in the millinery trade in New York City shows that high wages are not attained by a large proportion of millinery workers in general, and certainly not until after considerable experience in the trade.
The unduly seasonal character of millinery makes it undesirable as a trade for self-supporting women. With few exceptions, employers declare that they would not advise girls to enter millinery unless they have exceptional ability; or unless they can be supported by their families for three or four years until they reach a high wage; or unless they live at home and are only partially self-supporting. Employers cite evidence showing that girls leave millinery on account of its seasonal character to go into other lines of work where employment is regular even though the wage return is less.
Employment is offered in retail shops on an average of 32 weeks or less during the year; in millinery departments of stores from 32 to 42 weeks; and in wholesale houses 40 weeks or more. A very small proportion of workers are employed the year round. The majority of millinery workers are faced with the problem of tiding themselves over two dull seasons aggregating for the year from 12 to 28 weeks. This means that in order to have employment all the year a girl must get two extra jobs annually, one in the summer and another in the winter, besides retaining her regular millinery position. Employers report that a considerable number of retail millinery workers secure a few weeks' employment in dull season in wholesale houses, but on examination this is found to be of trifling importance in the whole problem of unemployment. A few workers in wholesale houses secure positions in retail shops in the wholesale dull seasons. Retail selling offers some employment to millinery workers.
MILLINERY APPRENTICESHIP
The regular method of entering the millinery trade in Cleveland is through an apprenticeship of two seasons, each 12 weeks long, in a retail millinery shop. The millinery departments of the large stores are gradually doing away with apprenticeship. Of seven stores visited, three had no apprentices, three had from one to three among from one to two dozen workers, and one had a number of apprentices who acted mainly as errand girls, doing "every single thing which would allow the regular makers to sit still at the table."
The wholesale houses take few apprentices. Of the three visited, one takes none, a second takes but one a year, while the third takes about one apprentice to every nine or 10 regular workers and gives her thorough training. The only other wholesale house in the city takes no apprentices.
APPRENTICES IN RETAIL SHOPS
There is little inducement for an ambitious self-supporting young woman to enter the millinery trade through apprenticeship. In the 45 shops visited there were 54 apprentices to 198 makers and trimmers, or one apprentice for each three or four regular workers. If this proportion holds true for all the shops in the city (and it should, for these 45 were in districts all over the city), then there are about 265 apprentices altogether in these shops to 972 makers and trimmers.
So far as can be ascertained through a discussion of the matter with employers, the small retail shops furnish a good many partly trained workers to wholesale houses and millinery departments in stores. But this does not account for the abnormal proportion of apprentices in the retail shops. There is no good reason why there should be one apprentice for each three or four regular workers. Such a large number could be justified only if the number of millinery workers were increasing by about 30 per cent every year; or about 30 per cent of the workers dropped out of the trade every year. As neither of these things is happening, the true explanation is that large numbers of these young workers are not really apprentices at all, but only very cheap help taken on to do less difficult work in rush seasons and then dropped.
The growth of the trade does not warrant any great number of apprentices. From 1900 to 1910, according to the Occupational Census, the number of milliners in Cleveland increased about 80 per cent. If none died and none dropped out, an increase of only six per cent each year would result in an increase of 80 per cent in 10 years. Under the same conditions an increase of 30 per cent each year would result in an increase of over 1200 per cent in 10 years. In point of fact some do die and some do leave each year, but after making every reasonable allowance, it is still certain that in this trade, where the apprenticeship period is only one year, no such number of apprentices are needed as are actually at work in Cleveland. Indeed the available data indicate that the increase in workers in the retail shops during the past decade was hardly more than the number of apprentices taken on in one year.
That apprentices are used in many shops merely as a convenience is perfectly evident when one inquires how employers dispose of their apprentices at the end of their period of learning. In the better class of shops only a sufficient number of apprentices are trained to fill the positions that are available. In such shops we find one apprentice every year to from six to 16 regular workers or in the smaller shops, where there are only three or four regular workers, an apprentice every two or three years. In the shop where there are five apprentices to one maker and one trimmer (an actual case), it is perfectly evident that apprenticeship cannot be serving the ordinary purpose of training prospective workers in the processes of the trade.
WAGES AND MILLINERY APPRENTICESHIP
There are shops (three out of the 45 visited) in which apprentices are not paid. The usual wage is $1 a week the first season, with an increase in the second season in some cases to $1.50 or $2. This wage is spoken of as carfare. Hats are usually given to the apprentice, the materials costing $5 or $6 a season. In a few shops the apprentice starts with $1.50 or $2 a week the first season and is increased to from $2 to $5 in the second.
The low apprenticeship wages and slow advancement during the first few years practically close the trade to self-supporting girls unless they can be helped over their learning period or unless they are of such exceptional ability that they are immediately advanced to good positions. The trade is open to girls who are not in the real sense of the word self- supporting those who live at home and can either be taken care of for the three or four years while they are working up to a living wage or who merely wish to earn some extra money for incidentals.
So, that's it for the Cleveland millinery scene in 1916. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. I have some other fascinating texts i'm planning on transcribing in future as well, of a similar nature--period resources on the nature of the work in various related fields.
And, thanks for the heads-up from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
kuki_milliner, who posted the other day about the 50%-off e-book sale over at how2hats.com. They offer a range of e-books on specialized millinery topics--strip straw hats, sinamay hats, double-brimmed hats, etc. Normally they're $25 each, which feels a bit steep to me for a 40-page .pdf download, but half that's a bit more reasonable. It might be worth checking out, particularly if you are interested in millinery techniques using specialty materials like straw and crin.
CONDITIONS OF WORK IN MILLINERY
Comprehensive data in regard to the wages of millinery workers are not available. The State Industrial Commission's figures in the 1914 report are for workers in wholesale houses only. Wherever possible, the Survey gathered actual figures and these are presented as indicative only and not as conclusive data.
WAGES IN RETAIL AND WHOLESALE MILLINERY
The data indicate that wages are considerably lower in retail shops than in either millinery departments in stores or in wholesale houses. In the retail shops there is a striking contrast between the wages of trimmers and of makers.
Sixty-five per cent of the trimmers receive $18 or over, $18 being the rate most commonly received. Trimmers receiving the higher wage scale are really designers. Eighty-five per cent of the trimmers receive $15 or over. The proportion of makers, on the other hand, receiving under $15 is 76 per cent.
The data in regard to makers indicate that the median rate of wage is $8, that is, about the same number of workers earn amounts under $8 as earn amounts over $8. After her two seasons of apprenticeship, a maker starts out on her third season receiving anywhere from $3 to $6 per week. The average is much nearer the lower figure than the higher one. Milliners say that most girls do not receive $8 a week until their sixth season which is at the end of the third year. One of the highest grade millinery shops in the city regularly pays only $5 to girls in their sixth season. If we consider the seasonal character of millinery in connection with wage rates there is no doubt that the first few years of millinery work do not offer a sufficient money return to the self-supporting girl, unless she shows marked ability as a trimmer.
Of the 45 shops, only 22 paid any maker as high as $10. Fifteen of these shops paid as high as $12, six paid as high as $15, and only one paid $16. It can readily be seen that makers have not much chance of advancement in their own line. The smaller shops, as a general rule, have a fixed upper rate, beyond which they do not pay, no matter how expert the maker may become. The more conscientious proprietors explain to their girls that their business does not warrant paying more and advise changing to a wholesale house or to some better paying shop when they become capable of earning more than the fixed rate.
The wages of workers who are employed all the year round are most varied. Table 7 gives a dozen cases of wages of girls employed all the year round.
The busy season referred to in the table lasts from 24 to 32 weeks.
TABLE 7. WAGES OF 12 MILLINERY WORKERS EMPLOYED
THE YEAR ROUND IN RETAIL SHOPS
Workers - Busy season - Dull season
Trimmer - $15.00 - $15.00
Trimmer - $15.00 - $7.50
Head maker - $15.00 - $7.50
Maker - $6.00 - $6.00
Maker - $4.00 - $4.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer and maker) - $14.00 - $14.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer) - $20.00 - $10.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer) - $25.00 - $7.00
Salesgirl (also trimmer) - $8.50 - $7.00
Salesgirl (also maker) - $15.00 - $15.00
Salesgirl (also maker) - $15.00 - $10.00
Salesgirl (also maker) - $5.00 - $5.00
In department stores the median rate for trimmers (most of whom are designers) is $25. A worker becomes an assistant trimmer at $15 and may possibly work up to a wage of $50 or more. Most makers earn between $8 and $12, the average being about $10. Girls with two seasons' experience in small shops or with millinery training are taken on as helpers or as beginning makers at from $4 to $6 and may advance as makers to $15.
In wholesale shops designers earn from $25 to $60 or more. Makers start at about $5 and range from about $10 to $15, and sometimes more. Those who are employed in straight copying may earn between $15 and $20. Data presented by the Industrial Commission of Ohio in its 1914 report show that 37 per cent of women 18 years of age and over employed in wholesale houses earn under $8; 22 per cent earn from $8 to $12, and 41 per cent earn $12 and over. The 32 girls under 18 in these shops were with one exception earning under $4.
WAGES, YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, AND AGES OF WORKERS
The relation of wages to experience in this trade may be seen from a detailed study made in the trade in New York City in which data on this point were gathered for 1,026 milliners.* Table 8 sums up the results of this study.
TABLE 8. RELATION OF WAGES TO EXPERIENCE IN THE MILLINERY TRADE AS SHOWN BY WEEKLY RATES OF WAGES PAID TO WOMEN IN MILLINERY ESTABLISHMENTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO YEARS IN THE TRADE, NEW YORK, 1914
Years in the trade - % of workers - Median rate of wage
Less than 1 year - 8% - $4.09
1 year and less than 2 - 6% - $6.04
2 years and less than 3 - 9% - $7.05
3 years and less than 5 - 21% - $8.99
5 years and less than 7 - 16% - $11.54
7 years and less than 10 - 18% - $13.13
10 years and less than 15 - 15% - $15.24
15 years and less than 20 - 4% - $20.50
20 years or over - 2% - $16.00
The relation of wages to ages of workers may be seen from Table 9, which gives the results of data gathered from 1,027 milliners in regard to ages and weekly rates of wages in millinery establishments in New York City, 1914.*
* Wages in the Millinery Trade. By Mary Van Kleeck. N. Y., 1914.
[Editor's note: I wonder if there are 1,027 milliners in all of New York City today.]
TABLE 9 - RELATION OF WAGES TO AGE IN THE MILLINERY TRADE AS SHOWN BY WEEKLY RATES OF WAGES PAID TO WOMEN IN MILLINERY ESTABLISHMENTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO AGE, NEW YORK, 1914
Age of worker - % of workers - Median rate of wage
Under 16 - 2% of workers - $4.14/week
16 to 18 - 13% of workers - $5.94/week
18 to 21 - 28% of workers - $8.76/week
21 to 25 - 29% of workers - $12.40/week
25 to 30 - 17% of workers - $14.39/week
30 to 35 - 6% of workers - $17.50/week
35 to 40 - 3% of workers - $18.67/week
40 to 45 - 1% of workers - $15.17/week
45 and over - 1% of workers - $20.00/week
These data show what the other data only roughly indicated that high wages are not attained by a large proportion of millinery workers in general, and certainly not until after considerable experience in the trade.
SEASONAL CHARACTER OF MILLINERY
Millinery has the well-earned reputation of being the most seasonal of trades. Nevertheless, heads of wholesale houses and millinery departments in stores tell us that this trade is destined to become an all-year-round business because of the increase in the wear of between-season hats. In a few of the exclusive custom shops work is carried on practically the year round, and in some of the small retail shops the seasons are stretched out so that there is now less work during rush seasons and more work during the dull than formerly, thus making employment more regular.
All these are hopeful signs; but they by no means indicate the solution of the seasonal problem. In many of the retail shops the milliners say that seasons are shorter than they used to be. One first-class milliner, who during her business of 20 years' standing has always employed her girls the year round, says that for the first time this year she is forced by the shortness of seasons to make a 14 weeks' agreement with workers.
The most significant sign in regard to the seasonal aspect of millinery lies in the almost invariable negative replies given by milliners when they are questioned as to the advisability of girls deliberately going into millinery work. With but two or three exceptions employers declared that they would not advise a girl to go into millinery unless she had exceptional ability so that she would get to the top immediately; or unless she could be supported by her family for three or four years until she reached a high wage mark; or unless she lived at home and had only partially to support herself. One proprietor who seemed fairly successful said that if she had 12 daughters, she would not let one of them be a milliner. The few employers who considered millinery satisfactory work were those whose workers were busy practically the year round and who believed that such a condition was possible in all shops if employers would keep up with the times by continually providing new styles for their customers.
There is abundant evidence to show that many girls leave millinery on account of its seasonal character to go into other sorts of work. Instances were recounted of millinery workers who left their well- paid seasonal job to take an all-year-round low-paid job. One case was that of a girl in wholesale millinery receiving $10 a week for 40 weeks during the year who left to take an all-year-round position in a different line of work at $8.
WHAT THE MILLINERY SEASONS ARE
That there is a wide difference among the various shops in regard to seasonal activity is apparent. Shops were visited between the middle of December and the middle of January. This was the first part of the so-called dull winter season for the retail shops and the beginning of the spring work for the wholesale houses. Among the retail shops ostensibly doing no work at all several were found with locked doors; some were being moved to other parts of the city; while a few were undergoing a thorough house-cleaning. In two or three shops the girl on duty stated that the proprietor was in New York to "get the new spring styles." In a few shops the proprietor was doing a little millinery work while she waited for chance customers.
In a few workrooms the proprietor with one or two workers was starting preparations for an early spring opening. In some of the fashionable shops customers were getting their going-south hats and a good-sized working force was busy filling orders on short notice.
At this time telephone conversations were carried on in some of the retail shops arranging for employment of workers in the wholesale houses. In the wholesale houses the spring work was already going with a zest, the spring opening was in prospect, and retail workers were applying for temporary positions.
In most retail shops the spring season begins about the first of March and lasts until the first of July, or in the popular phrase it is from "a little before Easter to the Fourth of July." In similar parlance the fall season is from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, or more exactly from the first of September to the first of December in about two-thirds of the shops and until Christmas in about one-third. In the millinery departments in stores the spring season is somewhat earlier than in retail shops, but the fall season is practically the same. In the wholesale houses the seasons are earlier.
NUMBER OF WEEKS OF WORK
Employment is offered in the majority of the small shops for about 32 weeks in the year; in the millinery departments of the stores for from 32 to 42 weeks; and in the wholesale houses for 40 weeks.
Only the most careful case study could show just what proportion of workers are employed for different specified numbers of weeks during the year. It is sufficient for our purpose to indicate roughly for what periods workers were engaged in 1914.
In 19 out of the 45 retail shops some girls were kept the year round. In most shops only one girl was kept. In one shop nine girls out of 19 had work all the year. In another all the girls who were absolutely dependent on their own resources were employed the whole year, while the rest of the workers received equal shares of layoff during a short dull season. In a third shop all the girls had from 44 to 46 weeks' work, which was more than many of them wanted.
One department store kept its small force of workers the entire year. In another two of the head workers received 44 weeks while the remainder of the force averaged 32 weeks. In a third all the trimmers and one-half of the makers were employed the whole year. In another, 81 per cent were employed from 30 to 41 weeks; 10 per cent, 45 weeks; six per cent, 50 weeks; while the remaining three were employed less than 30 weeks. In still another a regular force of workers was employed 42 weeks of the year; while a large number of temporary workers are put on extra to supply labor at busy times.
In the wholesale houses some of the head workers are employed the year round while the main force has work during about 40 weeks. The fluctuation in the employment of workers in wholesale houses may be seen from Diagram 4, which shows the proportion employed, according to the Industrial Commission of Ohio, on the 15th of each month in Cleveland in 1914.
DIFFICULT PROBLEM OF THE DULL SEASON
The majority of millinery workers are faced with the problem of tiding themselves over two dull seasons of considerable length, aggregating for the year from 12 to 28 weeks. Twice a year approximately 17 girls out of 20 in the retail shops are laid off because the season is over. The difficulty of solving such a problem can be appreciated if we consider that this means that a self-supporting girl must get at least two extra jobs a year, one in the summer and another in the winter, even if she is engaged regularly from season to season in the same millinery shop. This means that she must have at least two kinds of wage-earning ability.
We have spoken of the considerable proportion of workers in the small retail millinery shops who live at home and who are merely earning some extra money or only partially supporting themselves. These girls can remain at home during the dull season and help with family duties. There is also a small proportion, mostly trimmers, who make enough money during the busy season to maintain themselves decently during dull periods. The trimmer who has 32 weeks' work at the usual trimmer's wage of $18, has $11 a week to live on if she is able to distribute her money evenly over the whole year of 52 weeks. This reduces to some extent the size of the problem of employment for millinery workers during dull seasons, but it leaves the problem none the less difficult to solve.
In the matter of dull season work there is first of all to be considered the interchange of workers between wholesale houses and retail shops. Although the retail millinery proprietors speak of the wholesale houses as supplying work to their employees during the retail dull season, the situation is not so looked upon by the wholesale houses themselves.
While the better of these temporary workers may be employed for a considerable period if they so desire, an average of a week or two of work during a season may be considered the amount of employment in wholesale houses secured by the average temporary worker. From a close estimate it is likely that in Cleveland not more than 500 workers regularly employed in retail shops in the busy season have the advantage of this arrangement. These temporary workers in the wholesale houses receive a uniform wage of $1 a day. The $20 a week retail milliner receives the same wage as the $4 a week maker. Certainly, then, from the standpoint of length of period of employment and wage paid, the wholesale house cannot be considered as furnishing much assistance for the average retail millinery girl. Probably the work most frequently engaged in by milliners during dull seasons is selling hi the large stores. In the stores which have millinery departments, an effort is made to transfer from the workroom during the dull seasons every girl who has any selling ability. Heads of departments speak of patiently trying out a girl in several different departments to develop her selling ability. Those girls who are unable to sell are kept in the workroom as long as possible. Some of the proprietors of stores frankly say, however, that they cannot place all their own millinery workers who need positions.
HOURS OF LABOR
Nominal working hours are almost always 54 a week, but two-thirds of the shops visited kept open from one to six evenings a week. The workroom girls are not always kept for evening work. In only one case among the shops visited were girls kept every evening. In some instances girls stay Saturday night until 9 or 10, but very often only the trimmer stays. When girls work evenings, the rule is that they are usually allowed a morning off during the week, but this is not always adhered to. In one instance girls who worked in wholesale houses during the day were occasionally taken on as extra workers to help out at night during busy times.
The 54-hour legal working week for women has made overtime work during the rush season legally impossible for employees, not for employers. Many employers visited spoke of the terrible strain lasting for two months twice a year when they sat up practically every night until very late working alone. It is a well known fact, however, that violations of the 10-hour daily limit and 54-hour weekly limit for employees are extremely common.
[Editor's note: That breaks down to a 6-day work-week of 9-hour-long workdays being the legal norm at the time. Bear in mind too that women can't legally vote yet in 1916.]
SUMMARY
Available data indicate that the wages of workers in retail shops are lower in general than the wages of workers in millinery departments in stores and in wholesale houses. Makers in retail shops earn from $3 to $16 a week, the average being about $8. Trimmers earn from $10 to $40, with an average of about $18. Out of 45 retail shops, only 22 paid as high as $10 to any maker; 15 paid as high as $12; six paid as high as $15; and only one paid over $15.
In millinery departments in stores, trimmers, who are largely designers, earn from $15 to $50 a week or more. The rate most commonly received is $25. Makers are started at from $4 to $6 and may advance to $15, with an average of about $10.
In wholesale houses designers earn from $25 to or more. Makers start at about $5 and range from $10 to $15, and sometimes more. Those employed in straight copying may earn between $15 and $20. The 1914 report of the Industrial Commission of Ohio presents data showing that of the women 18 years of age and over employed in wholesale houses, 37 per cent receive under $8; and 22 per cent receive between $8 and $12; while 41 per cent receive $12 and over. The 32 girls under 18 years of age employed in wholesale houses were with one exception receiving under $4 per week.
A study of the relation of wages to years of experience and ages of workers in the millinery trade in New York City shows that high wages are not attained by a large proportion of millinery workers in general, and certainly not until after considerable experience in the trade.
The unduly seasonal character of millinery makes it undesirable as a trade for self-supporting women. With few exceptions, employers declare that they would not advise girls to enter millinery unless they have exceptional ability; or unless they can be supported by their families for three or four years until they reach a high wage; or unless they live at home and are only partially self-supporting. Employers cite evidence showing that girls leave millinery on account of its seasonal character to go into other lines of work where employment is regular even though the wage return is less.
Employment is offered in retail shops on an average of 32 weeks or less during the year; in millinery departments of stores from 32 to 42 weeks; and in wholesale houses 40 weeks or more. A very small proportion of workers are employed the year round. The majority of millinery workers are faced with the problem of tiding themselves over two dull seasons aggregating for the year from 12 to 28 weeks. This means that in order to have employment all the year a girl must get two extra jobs annually, one in the summer and another in the winter, besides retaining her regular millinery position. Employers report that a considerable number of retail millinery workers secure a few weeks' employment in dull season in wholesale houses, but on examination this is found to be of trifling importance in the whole problem of unemployment. A few workers in wholesale houses secure positions in retail shops in the wholesale dull seasons. Retail selling offers some employment to millinery workers.
MILLINERY APPRENTICESHIP
The regular method of entering the millinery trade in Cleveland is through an apprenticeship of two seasons, each 12 weeks long, in a retail millinery shop. The millinery departments of the large stores are gradually doing away with apprenticeship. Of seven stores visited, three had no apprentices, three had from one to three among from one to two dozen workers, and one had a number of apprentices who acted mainly as errand girls, doing "every single thing which would allow the regular makers to sit still at the table."
The wholesale houses take few apprentices. Of the three visited, one takes none, a second takes but one a year, while the third takes about one apprentice to every nine or 10 regular workers and gives her thorough training. The only other wholesale house in the city takes no apprentices.
APPRENTICES IN RETAIL SHOPS
There is little inducement for an ambitious self-supporting young woman to enter the millinery trade through apprenticeship. In the 45 shops visited there were 54 apprentices to 198 makers and trimmers, or one apprentice for each three or four regular workers. If this proportion holds true for all the shops in the city (and it should, for these 45 were in districts all over the city), then there are about 265 apprentices altogether in these shops to 972 makers and trimmers.
So far as can be ascertained through a discussion of the matter with employers, the small retail shops furnish a good many partly trained workers to wholesale houses and millinery departments in stores. But this does not account for the abnormal proportion of apprentices in the retail shops. There is no good reason why there should be one apprentice for each three or four regular workers. Such a large number could be justified only if the number of millinery workers were increasing by about 30 per cent every year; or about 30 per cent of the workers dropped out of the trade every year. As neither of these things is happening, the true explanation is that large numbers of these young workers are not really apprentices at all, but only very cheap help taken on to do less difficult work in rush seasons and then dropped.
The growth of the trade does not warrant any great number of apprentices. From 1900 to 1910, according to the Occupational Census, the number of milliners in Cleveland increased about 80 per cent. If none died and none dropped out, an increase of only six per cent each year would result in an increase of 80 per cent in 10 years. Under the same conditions an increase of 30 per cent each year would result in an increase of over 1200 per cent in 10 years. In point of fact some do die and some do leave each year, but after making every reasonable allowance, it is still certain that in this trade, where the apprenticeship period is only one year, no such number of apprentices are needed as are actually at work in Cleveland. Indeed the available data indicate that the increase in workers in the retail shops during the past decade was hardly more than the number of apprentices taken on in one year.
That apprentices are used in many shops merely as a convenience is perfectly evident when one inquires how employers dispose of their apprentices at the end of their period of learning. In the better class of shops only a sufficient number of apprentices are trained to fill the positions that are available. In such shops we find one apprentice every year to from six to 16 regular workers or in the smaller shops, where there are only three or four regular workers, an apprentice every two or three years. In the shop where there are five apprentices to one maker and one trimmer (an actual case), it is perfectly evident that apprenticeship cannot be serving the ordinary purpose of training prospective workers in the processes of the trade.
WAGES AND MILLINERY APPRENTICESHIP
There are shops (three out of the 45 visited) in which apprentices are not paid. The usual wage is $1 a week the first season, with an increase in the second season in some cases to $1.50 or $2. This wage is spoken of as carfare. Hats are usually given to the apprentice, the materials costing $5 or $6 a season. In a few shops the apprentice starts with $1.50 or $2 a week the first season and is increased to from $2 to $5 in the second.
The low apprenticeship wages and slow advancement during the first few years practically close the trade to self-supporting girls unless they can be helped over their learning period or unless they are of such exceptional ability that they are immediately advanced to good positions. The trade is open to girls who are not in the real sense of the word self- supporting those who live at home and can either be taken care of for the three or four years while they are working up to a living wage or who merely wish to earn some extra money for incidentals.
So, that's it for the Cleveland millinery scene in 1916. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. I have some other fascinating texts i'm planning on transcribing in future as well, of a similar nature--period resources on the nature of the work in various related fields.
And, thanks for the heads-up from
kuki_milliner, who posted the other day about the 50%-off e-book sale over at how2hats.com. They offer a range of e-books on specialized millinery topics--strip straw hats, sinamay hats, double-brimmed hats, etc. Normally they're $25 each, which feels a bit steep to me for a 40-page .pdf download, but half that's a bit more reasonable. It might be worth checking out, particularly if you are interested in millinery techniques using specialty materials like straw and crin.
