In addition 125 more adrift women of the same industrial group were visited, in order to furnish a body of information sufficiently large to serve the purpose of the investigation. The tables are based on partial or full information concerning 485 women, therefore, subject to the investigation. These figures exclude waitresses, who are treated separately. Minneapolis and St. Paul are surrounded by an agricultural country, with its usual quota of numerous small towns. Many girls from the farms and towns come to the cities to work. When they are laid off at the close of the busy season they return to their homes. These are not the sort of adrift women covered by this investigation, as they are not entirely dependent upon themselves. However, the time of the collection of the data was toward the end of the dull and before the rush of the busy season, and the abnormalities which might be due to this cause were not encountered. The following table shows the number of women visited for the purposes of this investigation employed in each industry and the number in the same industries in the two cities. NUMBER OF WOMEN INCLUDED IN THIS INVESTIGATION AND TOTAL NUMBER EMPLOYED IN THE SAME INDUSTRIES AS REPORTED BY THE MINNESOTA BUREAU OF LABOR, BY INDUSTRIES, MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL. a Compiled from Tenth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor of Minnesota, 1905 and 1906. At the time of this study, the clothing industry (a), in which the greatest number is shown, gave work to some 300 more women in Minneapolis than in St. Paul. The laundries, likewise, employ 250 more in the former than in the latter city. But printing and publishing furnishes employment to twice as many women in St. Paul as in Minneapolis. The boot and shoe industry has in its employ much the larger number in St. Paul, but the telephone business has a similar excess in the number of its women employees in Minneapolis. The Tenth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor, 1906. manufacture of fiber goods is wholly, and of fur goods practically, limited to St. Paul. On the other hand the production of woolen goods, knit goods, and cloth bags is confined to Minneapolis. The paperbox industry furnishes work to about an equal number of women in both cities. Unlike the other cities included in the investigation, Minneapolis and St. Paul have comparatively few women from the southeastern European countries engaged in the industries here reported, and these are employed chiefly in fur goods and in clothing manufacture. In St. Paul the Irish lead in the factory employments, while in Minneapolis the Swedes conspicuously predominate. There is, however, a much greater range in nationalities among the factory employees than among those who work in stores. The Americans are most numerous among the latter. Next come the Swedes, Germans, and Irish, in numerical strength in the order named. Personal information in much detail was secured from 371 women in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and summaries of the more essential facts are presented below. It was not possible to secure from all of the women visited data for all the items included in the table. Hence the numbers reported vary in different sections of the table. The table gives the age, experience, earnings, cost of living, etc., for the store and factory women, classified as "at home" and "adrift." For women "adrift" only certain other details are given relating mainly to expenditures. WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS IN MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL, MINN., FOR WHOM INFORMATION CONCERNING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS WAS SECURED. WOMEN AT HOME AND WOMEN "ADRIFT." WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS IN MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL, MINN., FOR WHOM INFORMATION CONCERNING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS WAS SECURED-Conc'd. WOMEN AT HOME AND WOMEN "ADRIFT"-Concluded. The average experience for the store employee adrift is 4.9 years, the home girl having an average of 4.3 years. The average age of the store employee adrift is 23.7 years. The average age for the home woman is 22.6 years. The average time at school for the adrift store employee in the two cities was 7.7 years. An occasional instance of professional training or of a year and over in the high school occurred, but they were rare. One saleswoman had had a normal training, but had not liked teaching in a country school, so did not strive further in the profession. The level of wages for all the store employees included in the investigation in the two cities is $6.95 a week. This average may be a little high, because there are 6 head saleswomen on the complete list of 161. This number is perhaps relatively too great and tends to exaggerate the average wage. The level for the adrift girl is $6.97, as determined by this investigation. The hours worked for this wage by the average girl are 54 per week. The customary length of the working day in the retail stores is from 8.30 a. m. to 6 p. m., except on Saturday, when it is from 8.30 a. m. to 10 p. m. Some of the girls in the stores are under 16 years of age and according to the law must not work over 10 hours a day. It did not appear that Saturday was a shorter day for them than for any other employees. While the average hours per week are but 54, the day of 13 hours (actual work 114 hours) on Saturday is not only excessive but works considerable hardship. Saleswomen are not allowed to make preparation for departure before the signal sounds at 10 p. m. The final summing up of the day's sales, covering up the stock, and leaving it in proper order, take additional time. Usually it is well toward 11 o'clock before the girls get home Saturday night, especially if they do not live within walking distance. At the time of this investigation, but two of the leading stores in Minneapolis and two in St. Paul closed Saturday night before 10 o'clock. One closed at 1 p. m. on Saturday during the summer months and at 6 p. m. during the other months. One merely closed at 5 p. m. during 2 summer months. One opens at 8 a. m. and closes at 6 p. m. the year round. Additional overtime for 10 days or 2 weeks preceding Christmas holidays is the rule. (a) Information was collected on this point for 28 saleswomen. Their average overtime at this period was 25 hours. One store paid its employees $3 for the overtime work. Another gave "supper checks." Still another, at holiday time and at stocktaking season, allows its employees 10 minutes between 6 and 7 p. m., a Department and other retail stores in St. Paul closed Christmas eve. 1909, at 7 p. m. when they can get a cup of coffee and three doughnuts from the soda fountain at the firm's expense. Stock taking makes overtime practically continuous from the beginning of the 10 days before Christmas through the first 3 weeks of January. Those familiar with the stock are required to work until 10 p. m. Most of the stores rush the work, but one shows the greatest consideration for its employees. Payment for this overtime work is not customary. One store allows its employees 6 per cent instead of the customary 10 per cent on personal purchases. An employee is allowed to purchase goods in value equal to the wage then due. This rule is waived in individual cases. The benefit association exists in a few of the larger stores. The employees pay dues of 25 or 40 cents a month, the amount varying in different stores. The period of illness during which a benefit may be paid is usually from 12 to 15 weeks, and the amount of benefit is $5 a week. In case of death the payment of a sum varying from $50 to $100 is made. If the sum in the treasury is not equal to the demands made upon it an assessment is ordered, but this is rare. Membership in the associations here is not usually compulsory, as is frequently the case in other cities. In one store it is limited to those employees receiving over $4 a week. Those who belong here seem to regard it as a semiinsuring, semiphilanthropic arrangement, for many, when it was mentioned, would remark that though they personally had derived no benefit from it they willingly paid their dues since it helped others. One adrift girl had recently drawn $20 from the association during an illness of 5 weeks. Another had not kept up her dues during a lay off and so forfeited quite a sum. Two girls had been in the city hospital, when membership in the association would surely have kept one, and perhaps the other, out of it. One store pays half wages to its employees during illness. It has no benefit association. The stores have different methods of dealing with tardiness. Some impose fines, and others require the delinquents to write out a report to some superior, the third offense being followed by dismissal, but the fine system seems to be more general. In the case of 16 saleswomen who were in stores where fines were imposed, the average loss monthly from this source was 21 cents. The fines ranged up to 80 cents per month. At the time of this investigation commissions on sales as a regular thing were not given the saleswomen of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Under certain circumstances, in some departments, commissions may be offered for the sale of a special line of goods or for a limited time. For instance, one firm desired to attract a better class of patronage to its suit department, so offered the saleswomen, during one season, |