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in New York. The largest per cent in Chicago were living in private families, which again was true of other self-supporting women in Chicago. Philadelphia differs little from Chicago in grouping as to living conditions. In St. Louis, Boston, and Minneapolis and St. Paul, a very small per cent of waitresses were keeping house. Since waitresses' meals are secured at places of employment, it is not surprising to find a small per cent keeping house. In New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis there were no housing conditions rated "bad," and in Boston the per cent was very small, while in Chicago the per cent living under these "bad" conditions was large. A large per cent of waitresses in all the cities have their housing graded "fair" or “good,” and a fair per cent, except in Chicago, have their housing graded "excellent."

There was much complaint among the waitresses that the work was very hard and they could stand it but a few years. A number of the girls interviewed had worked as three-meal girls until their health was broken; then they took positions as one-meal girls and barely made a living. Carrying the heavy trays and the constant standing or walking cause ill health. Usually a man is employed to carry away the empty dishes, but the waitress must bring the trays loaded with food.

The waitresses as a class are inclined to be more free and easy in manner and speech than the other wage-earning women interviewed. Many of the waitresses complained of the annoying attention of men customers. Many girls said, however, that if they speak sharply to a customer or offend him they are likely to be reprimanded by the head waitress, and may even lose their positions. Some even reported loss of position as due to offending an insulting man customer who did not hesitate to report the so-called impudence to the manager or head waitress, and in one case at least the girl was not allowed to defend herself. Other girls, less particular, apparently take these things as a matter of course.

A number of waitresses go away for the summer and work in summer resorts. A phase of life among the self-supporting waitresses, which neither the summary tables nor the tabulations of individual details can show, is the shifting tendency from lodging house to lodging house. A week or two-at most a few weeks-marks the length of the sojourn. The general living conditions of the waitresses are discussed in Chapter III in connection with the subject of "Social environment of wage-earning women."

CHAPTER XI.

OVERTIME AND NIGHT WORK OF WAGE-EARNING

WOMEN.

CHAPTER XI.

OVERTIME AND NIGHT WORK OF WAGE-EARNING WOMEN.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of overtime and night work by women in mercantile, manufacturing, and miscellaneous establishments; to discover what effect such overtime and night work have upon the earnings, industrial efficiency, and upon. the physical and moral welfare of women wage-earners. The inquiry into this subject was made at the end of 1907 and during 1908. The widespread industrial depression which affected business at that time made the study of overtime and night work exceedingly difficult, as conditions in this respect were altogether abnormal. Consequently, the results of the study must not be understood as showing the normal amount of overtime and night work performed by the women employed in these industries and are not given in tabular form in order that they may not be taken as the Bureau's statement of the normal amount of overtime and night work. Yet, as the situation was, so far as the general industrial conditions are concerned, uniformly below the normal, the results of the study are valuable as showing:

1. The extremes to which overtime and night work will go when a demand does arise in localities where there are no legal restrictions on the hours of labor for women or where such restrictions are not enforced.

2. To what extent and in what employments such overtime is paid for, though the industrial depression would tend to depress the percentage of payment for overtime work.

3. The relative influence of the compensated overtime work upon the normal earnings.

The effect upon industrial efficiency and health and moral welfare could be safely predicated only upon a large body of data collected during a period of normal industrial conditions. As this was not possible, no conclusions are drawn in this respect from the data collected.

This study of overtime and night work does not relate to the same establishments or to the same individual wage-earners as are included in the preceding chapters of this volume, nor was it extended to all of the cities included in the study of the living conditions of wageearning women. It does, however, relate to wage-earning women in both stores and factories, and the establishments are of the same

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