. Making both ends meet : the income and outlay of New York working girls. as every observer must realize, there are manyother enormous fields of seasonal work. These his-tories are nevertheless clear and authentic instances ofa strange and widespread social waste. Neither tradeorganization nor State legislation for shorter hours isprimarily directed toward a more general regular andforesighted distribution of work among all seasonaltrades and all seasonal workers. Until some focussed,specific attempt is made to secure such a distribution,it seems impossible but that extreme seasonal want,from
. Making both ends meet : the income and outlay of New York working girls. as every observer must realize, there are manyother enormous fields of seasonal work. These his-tories are nevertheless clear and authentic instances ofa strange and widespread social waste. Neither tradeorganization nor State legislation for shorter hours isprimarily directed toward a more general regular andforesighted distribution of work among all seasonaltrades and all seasonal workers. Until some focussed,specific attempt is made to secure such a distribution,it seems impossible but that extreme seasonal want,from seasonal idleness, will be combined with exhaust-ing seasonal work from overtime or exhausting seasonalwork in speeding, in a manner apparently arranged by Il8 MAKING BOTH ENDS MEET fortune to devastate human energy in the least in-telligent manner possible. Further effects of speeding and of monotony in thislabor were described by other self-supporting factoryworkers whose chronicles, being also concerned withindustry in mechanical establishments, will be Photograph by Lewis Mine Inquiring , tireless, seeking what is yet unfound ; —But where is what I started for so long ago,And why is it still unfound ? — Walt Whitman. CHAPTER IV THE INCOME AND OUTLAY OF SOME NEW YORKFACTORY-WORKERS [Monotony and Fatigue in Speeding] One of the strangest effects of the introduction ofmachinery into industry is that instead of liberatingthe human powers and initiative of workers frommechanical drudgery, it has often tended to devi-talize and warp these forces to the functions ofmachines.^ 1 These testimonies are cited from the brief for the Illinois Ten-Hour Law, prepared by Louis D. Brandeis and Josephine Goldmark. Investigations into the Conditions of Health of the Swiss FactoryWorkers. Dr. Fridlion Schuler, Swiss Factory Inspector, and E. Burckhardt, Professor of Hygiene. Instead of becoming wearied by personal labor, as in earlier stagesof industry, it is to-day the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1911
