under 16 years to 14.4 at 16 and 17, to 59.5 at 18 to 20, to 84.1 at 21 to 24, and to 92.9 at 25 years and over. Of the girls not living at home none of the 3 reported under 16 years earned $6 a week; at 16 and 17 years 21.4 per cent earned that amount or more, which percentage increased to 59.1 at 18 to 20, to 81.9 at 21 to 24, and to 90.0 at 25 years and over.

Comparison of the store women 21 years of age and over living at home with the adrift store women 21 years and over discloses the fact that nearly the same proportion in each group, 52.5 per cent of the former and 48.5 per cent of the latter, earn $8 and over. Comparing the home women 20 years of age and under with the adrift women of the same age groups, it appears that only 7.5 per cent of the home women earn $8 and over, while 12 per cent of the adrift women earn that amount, but against this difference should be set the fact that only 20 per cent of all the adrift women are 20 years and under, while 45 per cent of the home women are in that age group.

A comparison of the home and adrift women with reference to age, experience, and earnings is further suggestive of the effect of the home women upon the wage rate and also of some of the reasons. It will be seen from the following table that both in stores and in factories the home women are in every city younger than the adrift, women, have had shorter experience in the industry, and with one or two exceptions are paid a lower average wage.

COMPARISON OF AGE, EXPERIENCE, EARNINGS, ETC., OF HOME AND ADRIFT STORE AND FACTORY WOMEN, BY CITIES.

[In this table the averages for the 7 cities combined are in the case of each item simple averages based on the number reporting in regard to the item in question. Thus, in computing the averages the total numbers of women employed as wage-earners in the various industrial groups in the several cities are not considered. These numbers, represented by such figures as are available, are given in detail at the beginning of the chapters relating to the individual cities. New York is reported as employing more women in department and other retail stores than the 6 other cities combined, while in factories and miscellaneous establishments of the classes included in the investigation New York had 48 per cent of all. Therefore, if an average were computed with each city given an importance corresponding with the total numbers of women reported as employed in the various industries, New York would have a weight approximately equal to the other 6 cities combined.]

A striking feature of the comparison of age and experience of home and adrift store women is the fact that while the adrift women have had an average of 2 years' longer experience than the home women

(0.2 year longer in Chicago, 1.2 years in New York, 1.3 years in Philadelphia, and 2.1 years in Boston) they average approximately 6 years older (4.4 years in New York, 4.5 years in Boston, 5.1 years in Philadelphia, 6.4 years in Chicago, and 7.2 years in St. Louis). (°) The average earnings of the home women are less than those of the older and more experienced adrift women in every city, the difference being greatest as a rule where the differences in age and experience are greatest. Taking all the cities together, the adrift store women averaged $1.01 more per week than the home women.

Among the home and adrift women of the factory group similar age and experience differences are apparent, though the wage differences are much less.

That the differences in experience partially account for the wage differences between the home and adrift store women is also shown in the comparison of earnings according to experience (p. 42). The average earnings for all women having from 2 to 4 years' experience (corresponding in this particular most nearly to the whole group of home women) were $1.22 a week less than for those having from 4 to 6 years' experience (corresponding therein most nearly to the whole group of adrift store women).

Further scrutiny of the table on page 42 shows that nearly half (48.3 per cent) of all the store women visited had less than 4 years' experience, with an average of approximately 2 years, evidence that women of such experience are adequate to practically half the demand.

It would seem, therefore, from the study of both age and experience that one of the determining factors in the wage problem is age. The girl not far from 20 years old, with approximately 2 years' experience, meets a large part of the demand of the store employer. In a large majority of the cases she is the girl still under the parental roof and that fact doubtless has its influence upon the wage, but, in any case, she is a girl old enough and experienced enough to perform the service demanded of the ordinary saleswoman.

The fact that the girls are unorganized, and consequently without collective bargaining power, also has its influence upon the wage level. That the girls have remained unorganized in spite of the marked tendency toward organization is an entirely conceivable situation in view of the fact that approximately 50 per cent of the girls are 21 years of age and under. Young women of that age do not look upon their employment as a life work. Their "stake" in the results of organization is not large enough to attract them, and as they are the girls in demand the other 50 per cent of the women

a The fact that the difference in experience is much less than the difference in the ages of the home and adrift groups is due to the fact that among the adrift women are the great majority of the widowed, divorced, and deserted women who have been forced into the wage-earning ranks later in life.

employees are without adequate leverage to effect an organization with convincing bargaining power.

Next to the difficulty of classification, one of the hardest questions was to determine upon a reasonably uniform method of grading of shelter and food. Four grades were used in the field work, both for food and for shelter. The grading of "bad" in housing covers conditions described as insanitary; in the matter of food it represents insufficient nourishment, either through deficient quantity or quality. "Fair" housing means that the conditions were sanitary, but had nothing more to recommend them; applied to food it means sufficient nourishment, but nothing more. "Good" housing included, of course, the features of fair grading in addition to a measure of comfort in the matter of space, furnishings, etc. "Good" food stands for sufficient nourishment in palatable form. "Excellent" housing includes the factors in the fair and good grade in addition to attractive surroundings. The general policy was to count the use of a house sitting room as one requirement for a grading of "excellent," though in about half a dozen instances this requirement was ignored because of the adaptability of the sleeping rooms to sitting-room purposes; applied to food, "excellent" covers the fair and good grading and implies a degree of appointment and service, which, while not affecting the character of the food, still exerts an influence upon the individual.

In the various tables the grades of "fair" and "good" have been put together to reduce the problem to the simplest terms. It is assumed that, broadly speaking, the public is interested in knowing what proportion of the girls manage to live under "fair" and "good" conditions, what proportion of them fall short of this, and how many are within the "excellent" grading.

RATES OF WAGES OF DEPARTMENT STORE WOMEN AS SHOWN BY THE PAY ROLLS.

The Bureau was aided in checking the results of this investigation to some extent by the regular department stores of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston. In the three largest cities 26 regular department stores submitted complete pay rolls, showing rate of pay for 36,681 women wage-earners. Excluding from these the buyers and assistant buyers, as well as all part-time workers, the average weekly rate of pay (not earnings) is 72 cents higher than the average earnings in the same three cities ($7.21) as shown by the results of this investigation. It is true that these rates of pay do not show commissions, while the average earnings, as reported in this investigation, do include such commissions; but it is also true that, except in one or two stores, where the pay system is strictly by commissions, increases from this source never offset decreases due

to lost time. Furthermore there are on these rolls about 275 women, not buyers or assistant buyers, who are earning from $25 to $192 a week. As no individual reports were secured in this investigation from store women who were receiving over $50 a week, it is possible that the exceptional department store saleswomen of the highest earnings are slightly underrepresented in this report. On the other hand, and so far as all store women are concerned, offsetting this in part at least, is the fact that in each of these three cities many women are employed in small retail stores where the wage scale is decidedly below the department store level. Eleven stores in Boston submitted average earnings of rank and file women that proved to be but 31 cents higher than the average earnings shown by the Bureau's lists, which were composed not only of regular department store employees, but of women in other retail establishments, such as the 5 and 10 cent stores. This difference in list easily accounts for the difference in earnings, since the women at work in the novelty and 5 and 10 cent stores have a smaller earning power than those in the regular Boston department stores. The analysis of pay rolls for each city is presented in the chapter devoted to conditions in the individual cities.

MORAL INFLUENCES SURROUNDING DEPARTMENT-STORE

EMPLOYMENT.

To collect these statistical data was not the only purpose of the investigation. No picture of self-supporting women would be complete unless lines were drawn to show, not only the economic plane upon which industrial conditions compel such women to live, but also the moral incline given by the conditions peculiar to the employment and by the temptations incident to the environment. In another volume of this report the reader will find an analysis of the relation of employment to criminality and delinquency among women. That report will deal with the results. This report has only to do with conditions tending to produce such results.

About no employment does so much confusion exist in the public mind as exists in connection with the department-store business. Much of this is due to the fact that in no employment are there so many wage-earners in hourly contact with the public. There is no definite or extensive knowledge of conditions prevailing among other women wage-earners, but their industrial activities and the attendant temptations are not so constantly in the public eye. Extensive discussion with restricted knowledge of actual and prevailing conditions has given rise to contradictions, confusions, and in some instances to apparently well-developed hallucinations. The only possible way of clearing up the doubt and confusion enveloping the department-store woman is to study the subject from all possible view