To state the question from the viewpoint of the average woman's physical endurance: Granting that the manager who frankly told the investigator that he was entirely indifferent to what his employees did outside of business hours so long as they attended to business in the daytime and made satisfactory sales-granting that this man stated the consensus of opinion for all department stores-the question arising is not difficult to state. Are the majority of departmentstore women possessed of the physical constitutions to indulge in debaucheries at night and sustain exacting labor through the day for over 5 years, the length of time the women interviewed had served? The discussions and questions have been applied to departmentstore women. They can with equal force be applied to women employees and to employers in other industries. Aside from the necessity of finding an answer for the most vital question as to the policy of employment, which immediately affected the moral plane upon which girls live, no effort was spared to discover all other important facts, and to determine which were factors in the resultant department-store conditions. In a study of this kind it is the business of an investigator to scrutinize all information in order to discover, not only what is true, but what is typical and most important of all-what is beyond a reasonable doubt a product of employment conditions. Human nature is as variegated in one occupation as in another. Womankind in department stores will present the same variations as womankind in any other employment, or as womankind at leisure. This is equally true of the male kind. Both of these factors must be considered at their true value in the general results. It was the business of the Bureau to determine in what particular the departmentstore employment exerted pressure upon the feminine character. Department-store managers are not all alike. Even with well-organized department-store organizations shaping a general policy, the manager of each store is the interpreter of the policy. Upon the dimensions of this man's character much of the welfare of the women depends. A man in such a position, if of an evil character, has an unusual opportunity for the play of his evil propensities. On the other hand, the man of highly developed civic sense, and of a strong social sympathy, has equally large opportunities for exerting a benign influence. Neither man can let his inclinations play at the serious expense of the business, because both are held in thrall to the necessity of profit making. The number of exceptions to established policy often depends not only upon the character of the man in charge but upon his business acumen. One man has no scruples against keeping immoral women in the store so "long as they attend to business, make sales, and let the rest of the help alone." In that store will be found the shrewd "kept woman," the skillful procuress. The manager has not only given an unnecessary incline to the plane upon which the girls in his store work, but he is harboring an influence that is undermining the very discipline and efficiency he demands. That woman's single salesbook-enlarged often by the demimonde tradehas assumed an exaggerated value in his mind. The consideration often shown a saleswoman of this character, because of her large salesbook, and the marked courtesy extended to customers of ill repute are. among the evil influences chargeable to department-store employment. "How do you think a hard-working girl feels," said an experienced saleswoman to the investigator, "when she sees her buyer and the whole management bow down to '' (naming a woman of notorious character) when the girl herself receives nothing but curt orders in the store and cold stares out of it?" Such girls have neither more nor less discrimination than other girls of the same education and mental equipment, and few of these realize that the effort to please is exclusively a business matter and does not in the least signify either the presence or absence of respect for the customer's character. As one manager put it: "We know neither good nor bad of customers when they are in the store. It is our business to serve them all satisfactorily and to hold their trade." Nevertheless, these conditions do exert an influence on the girls, particularly those with an abnormal craving for pretty clothes and luxurious environment. All of them have the normal craving, which is strong enough. How much this influence is counteracted depends upon the effort a manager or buyer makes to have the girls understand that in business hours only business counts; that while courtesy is necessarily expected and exacted for all customers alike in the store, out of it character and reputation should determine the attitude entirely. How much the wage of the rank and file has to do with the moral plane and to what extent it is peculiar to the department store are exceedingly difficult questions to answer. In nearly all the cases which have come to notice during the investigation the first fall of the girl was either through her affection or her desire for a good time, while her continuance in the way of evil was beyond a reasonable doubt due to the large amount of money made available thereby. The average wage, determining so largely the measure of living comforts within the reach of the girl, has a direct bearing upon her moral welfare, particularly upon the moral welfare of the woman adrift. It is, therefore, proper to call attention here to the logical consequences flowing from a too prevalent policy of offering bonuses to department store buyers for annual increases of profits. The temptation to withhold a deserved wage increase from a saleswoman grows very strong, and the argument that a contented employee is a valuable asset is not sufficiently convincing when help is plentiful and the deserved increases affects directly the buyer's pocket. It does not meet the situation to say that the wages of saleswomen are not fixed by buyers but by superintendents of employees. The buyer ordinarily does not fix the wage directly nor can he absolutely dismiss a saleswoman, but few saleswomen get an increase and fewer remain in a department against the recommendation of a buyer, for he is responsible for the balance sheet of his section. The organization of the department store, even where no bonus system exists, falls heavily upon the women employees because of the sharp rivalry among buyers to make "the best financial showing." Each man strains every nerve to increase income and keep down expenses. The pressure on expenses has most effect where there is least resistance, and as the great body of department store girls are unorganized and without much individual bargaining power, they must yield to the pressure. The policy of stimulating the rivalry by offering a bonus increases the difficulties of the department store woman. The mental and moral development of a girl is also immediately affected by the certainty or uncertainty which attaches to the material provision for her future. The opportunity for this provision, if she does not marry, depends upon the possibility of increasing her earnings, her promotion in rank, and her tenure in office. A special analysis of this topic as it affects factory and miscellaneous employees and the employees of department stores and other retail establishments has been made and is intimately needful to a clear understanding of the moral environment of all the wage-earning women covered by this investigation. As has been said, the results of this industrial environment-the extent to which women, both in stores and other employments, have yielded to pressure or resisted concomitant temptationsmust be found in the report on the "Relation between criminality and employment among women." These two reports are closely complementary. One other subject which does not pertain to locality, nor yet to industrial environment, but is a matter of human nature and directly affecting the moral plane upon which girls are living, is the opportunities for amusement and social recreation which circumstances permit women adrift to enjoy. There is no subject more vital and none more difficult of treatment. Without careful study of the "Social environment of self-supporting women" conditions surrounding women adrift have been left dark where they most need light. CHAPTER II. |