Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/492

 470 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL together in one table represent the wages earned in an ordinary busy week; in one factory where there was a smaller proportion of learners than in the others, I have taken a week when the total wages paid came exactly to the average paid per week throughout the whole year, including holiday weeks and stock-taking weeks. In the other cases a week has been chosen which fairly represents the average for all weeks except these. The hours of work are from $ .. to 6.30 P.. ?ERCENTAGE OF VOMEN AND (IRLS EARNING Under 10s. 10s. to 15s. 15s. to 36 32'5 25'5 Over 20s. 6 Supposing the proportion of girls under eighteen to be the same for the whole 2,300 that I know it to have been for 1,500 of them, viz. 33 per cent., we get a very close correspondence between the numbers under eighteen, and the numbers earning less than 10s. a week. It is considered that the youngest learner should be earning at least 5s. per week within two or three months of her starting, and an older one, say from seventeen or eighteen years and upwards, ought to be earning 10s. at least within five or six months. With regard to the amount of wages earned in special branches, I have only particulars from one large firm, and therefore do not give specific tables. Here the majority of the machinists earn between 10s. and 18s.; the binders range from .15s. t.o over 30s.; the average earned by the braiders is 30s. 3d. m thin particular week; by the button-holers 20s. 5d., three-fourths earning above 18s., but none going so high as 30s.; the pressing-machine hands (who press the seams) average from 8s. to 9s. In the finishing department the earnings of the suit finishers range from 2s. to 23s., with an average of 10s. 4d.; of the trouser finishers from 3s. to 16s., with an average of 9s. 11d.; of the button-holers from 6s. to 23s., with an average of 13s. 4d.; and of the buttoners from 3s. 6d. to 10s., with an average of 6s. 3d. Of the work given out, coats are given to the Jewish masters, trousers, vests and juvenile suits to women, and in a few cases to men; but the Jews nqver take the latter class of work. Of the poverty and wretchedness to be found amongst the home workers in East London, there is almost nothing in Leeds. It is dfficult to make any general statement with regard to home workers so far as their economic position is concerned, for it is always depen- dent on the circumstances of their family life; in every case it is necessary to dwell on the social aspect of the question, and to con-