Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

WHERE WOMEN WORK.
V.— IN INDUSTRY.
Making Our. Shoes ahd Boots.
One cunitts away from a visit to a fac
tory feeling that the average Australian
girl and woman engaged in industrial pur
suits is a conscientious worker. Intelli
gent and bright, she. settles to her tasks
with a will. Indeed, those who do not
are the first to he put oil once work is
slack". The modern factory as we know
it is not a lingo, < dark place with smoky
chimneys. On the contrary, it is business
like in appearance from the outside, and
within it is very well lit, and one finds
that the large windows enable a maximum
amount of sunshine to penetrnto to the
rooms where the girls are working so
busily.
In the average factory work continences
before 8 o'clock, and once the whistle or
signal for work has gone the machinery
is set going as if by magic, and all is
bustle and work, until a pause is mnde
about 10 o'clock for a few minutes. Then
girls forget what they, have been doing;
they run across to other benches to talk
to some special friend, or they liustily pick
up the book they had to put down
when the signal went for work. At lunch
time there is usually a lialf'liour off duty.
Then work is resumed until 5 in the
afternoon, once again with a few minutes'
break half way through the afternoon.
Girls do not work on Saturdays, so that
their working week is from Monday to
Friday. i
It is the era of mass production and of
electric machinery. This has involved
big changes in the industrial world. Girls
are able to carry through tasks that previ
ously would have boon far too heavy for
them, and in the boot factories, m which
we are specially interested for the mo
ment, this has resulted in the employment
of many more women. Thirty years ago,
when the first. wages hoard was consti
tuted lor the boot trade, there was just
over 1000 girls and women working m the
boot lactones in Victoria. Willi the
growth o i. the industry, and the laet that
women can lie employed for so many or
(he operations in the boot and shoe muini-
fncture, there are. now over 5000 employed
in Victoria. An interesting laet is that;
there are practically eipial numbers- of
men and women employed. Nearly all of
the fuclories are in the metropolitan area,
m Lollmgwood and Kieluuond, while one
or two arc working in the country.
In 1807, when the Iirst wages board was
constituted, the girls employed in these
factories wove paid at the rate of £1- per
week, and they worked 4S hours. Now
lliey are paid on an average ' £2 11/ a
week, and work 44 hours.. Some, work-
nig the more difficult machines, or doing
the more exacting parts of the work- in
volved 'in the manufacture of boots and
shoes, are paid at higher rates, and natu
ral h' till tfiosc girls who are anxious to-
make progress m their trade um at obtain-'
nig this; work. Mass production has had
a em ions , effect on the industrial worker
oi to-day. Instcgd of being able to ulnke
the whole article, beginning with the' lin
ing nud - ending w ith the completed shoe,
the one . worker does one operation ; only.
Ot couise those girls who wish to. advance'
graduate. U our one. inuclime to nnotheiy un--
til the. time comes when they are-. efficient
uoikeijt. in their, owivi departments, - and
urc capable .of, becoming' torewomun ."
As one, watches the evolution' of the
shoe in the hands of,- tliu . girlB, one sees
fust, ol : ul| the -work: ol; the en tier, who,'
with metal "patterns," uits all the ma
terial exactly to size; . Jiuclr set of cut-out
kid or leather, or lining, as 'the,- ease 111113
b.o, is pu t , together ,. hi bundles, . and "-'bourn
the cnid ivitli, the exact details for rnarni-
fncluic. . All tins , is sorted 011 a ' large
(able, and each part is sent to- the girls
working the different .. .nuichincs.v. Tliei
leather goes to; girls who -have ir machine
which seems to pure, off' part 'of; the back
ol the upper edge of the' leiitligr/'so; that
uns can ue turned down racntly by another
machine and sewn Hat, . leaving; no' ridge
at all to blister the Toot.:.;: /.Lhcii,.- having
boon finished, by this inuclime, the leather-
goes to another, .winch crinkles. the' curves'
so t lint the told-down 'will-die' porfeetJ
Leaving this to watch the lining, one- finds
that it is one girl's. task to sow 11 Inndilig
joining the -buck : ot the lining, tlio. ina-
clime, putting" an. the. binding and'. doing
a double row ot stitches -rat the one': time:
The gu-1 woiks steadily at this, and some
one else cuts apart ench separate lining.':
then tlio lining goes .to another machine,
which stamps thesize and number, of the
order 011 to. tne side.. Tlu next girl sews
oh tile mamiiU(Jlurc,''s name, both -dottly
and neatly; . .-Going:, to ..machines ".'further,
back, other parts of'tlie lining are. added;
until finally -it is l-eudy to be fitted , into
the shoe 111 another room. - ; -
Ivctuininir to. thiv iniilltni-: -. run-- fuolu
uuicliines which make ridges anil ' dots to
indicate to macliinists where stitching is
to go. Toecaps and tongues .for men's
shoos pass to a machine which: works
fancy punched patterns across ; straight
away. Tills is a liiseiiiatmg task— one that
really lias something picturesque to show
us a result of its operations. Other; iiiu-
climes work slightly varied patterns, uml
tlio work pusses 011. In one girl's ..lunula
tlio holes arc punched on either eido lor
the lacings lor the shoes, while a very
interesting machine puis a pieeo of string
through tlio two bottom holes, ties it ultd
cuts vile ends oil. This process enables the'
lop oi tile shoe to be placed out Hut in
position, so tliut the vamp can be sewn 011
111 pericct style. J lien thu backs oi the
shoe urc sewn, and it passes on to another
machine, which docs lor the four other
holes 011 either side what tho iirst mucliinc
did lor the bottom holes. The shoe is be
ginning to take definite shape now, tor
ihu lining is inserted, and it is ready to
go out lo tho nion's department, whore it
is pressed into shano, with the still purls
inserted, ami whore soles and heels are puL
011. Then, when all this is done, the
nearly eoniplalod shoes oome hack into
tlii' hands ol the girls, who iielp with the
finishing processes, finally polishing and
lacing up the shoes, and, after inspection
they place them into thoir right boxes:
Naturally 0110 wants to find out whether
tins work does not become very mono
tonous, especially when the one" worker
does one process -only. JJut tho girls do
net seem to become very weary of it— not
when one finds that one girl luis worked
the one machine for eight years, and
another lias beaten that record. Girls are
inclined to _ stay at the one factory, and
thus one discovers that liny monotony ir
taken as part of the, gome. Much lias
been done for their comfort in the fac
tories, and it is tile usual thing to find
a spacious and airy diningroom, where tho
girls can go for thoir lunch. A separate
room is provided for the men. Employers
I'rcuuc-ntly provide milk, sugar and ten for
their employes, and the tea is ready the
.moment the girls come up from the work
rooms. A piano player forms part of tho
ciiuipmant of more than one diningroom.
and as soon us the girls have finished
their midday meal tlic player is set going,
and, having removed l|io. tables right to
tlic sides of the hull, tlicy dance until it
is time "to resume work.
Some fine work is being done with the
gir's at some- of these factories. In one
a choir is formed, and the girls find much
enjoyment out of the time spent ut work
as members of this. Then there are lib-
lurie.s in quite n number ol" factories,
where, the girls are able to obtain interest
ing .fiction thiil' they would, not otherwise
lie able to read. Savings hank accounts
and thrift, nro quite u strong point also in
some -of the factories, and some thousands
of, girls put what they, can afford out of
their wages into u savings bank account
so that they will have a reserve lor the
future.
It is at this interesting point that the
1 weffarc worker steps in. It has been
'omid that many girls nrc under 11 hnudi-
"up for health reasons, and the appoint-
lient of a inodicul woman should mean :>
great deal to the health of the girl and
woman in industry. Already it has been
discovered that eyes and teeth arc in
need of much more attention than they re-
reive. Girls try In work with severely
strained eyes, which is, of course, seriously
detrimental to health. Teeth also cause
untold harm.. F.vci v girl under liiTeea
yciiVs of age who- wishes to work in a hi"
iory lias to receive a sp"ci«l permit lo do
o. and the medical officer iiives a i bo
rough examination, thus eni.Vhig her to
discover what defects are noticeable and
indicating what measures must he taken
limine the girl is fit to enter the ranks
of tho industrial workers. Then correc
tive measures are frequently adopted after
girls have entered factories. It may be
found that their health is not what it
should be. and an improvement often re
sults from 11 change frevn one depnrtnient
to another. 1'c.rliaps her task was exact-
ing and her eyesight not nhlo to stand tlic
strain imposed upon it. This is remedied
aird the girls at once , become more
efficient units. Tn at least one boot fac
tory 11 nurse is employed for tlio benefit
of the girls, mid' she is kept busy attend
ing to the minor ailments from which girls
suffer. All this work is helping to save
women from physical suffering in the
future, and at tho same lime is helping
to imnrove working conditions, so that
girls and women can retain their standard
of efficiency the whole time they are en
gaged in industry.
$