and an examination of the individual tabulations at the close of this report shows a few of the employees working 92 hours for a single week of the rush season, many more of the employees reported a week of from 72 to 85 hours.

In view of the fact, however, that the employers themselves admitted that at least a large proportion of the force were affected by the long hours of the busy season, this lagging of some of the women is not an adequate explanation of the discrepancy between the proportion of the force reported by the employers to be affected by the hours and the proportion of the employees individually reporting such long hours. This discrepancy is probably due to two main causes. In the first place, while a large proportion of these schedules were taken in the rush season of 1908 and the managers, upon being interviewed in September of 1910, reported no change in the hours for 1909, yet as a matter of fact the pressure in 1908 was considerably less than in 1909, for which season the hours were given specifically in the accompanying summary table. This is easily possible because of the business depression prevailing in 1908 which had practically disappeared so far as this industry was concerned in 1909. Furthermore, the individual reports for the busy season of 1909 show greater extremes in weekly hours than those taken for the rush season of 1908. In the second place, it should be borne in mind that all this information in regard to 1909 was taken in the factories, often unavoidably in the hearing of the foreman. Under such circumstances the tendency on the part of the girls is always to minimize the hours as well as to exaggerate the earnings. This, however, does not apply to the hours and earnings for 1908, which were in all cases taken from the pay rolls.

The foreman of one of the large candy factories described the distribution of hours thus: "The 1909 rush season began October 15 and from that time until Christmas it was necessary to make 40 days, or 360 hours extra time. The factory was run for 8 hours on each of the intervening Sundays, and 59 days until 9 p. m. (the normal hours being from 7.30 a. m. to 5 p. m.)." To make up the 280 hours not covered by the ten intervening Sundays and still stop at 9 p. m. each night, the factory would have to open at 6.30 a. m., as one-half hour was allowed for lunch at noon and one half-hour for supper, and it was necessary to get in 43 hours a day to make 280 hours in 59 days.

The schedule of working hours for another firm was from 5.45 in the morning till 8.15 at night with one-half hour off for noon lunch and 15 minutes for supper. Asked as to whether it was not difficult to get girls to work so early in the morning, the manager replied: "No, they like it; but it is hard to keep them at work Wednesday and Saturday nights." This proneness to take one or two nights off furnishes a further explanation of the discrepancy of the weekly factory hours

reported by the firm and by the individual employees. It is not inconceivable that after 2 days of 13 to 14 hours and another of 11 hours the Wednesday evening's rest or recreation would have a stronger attraction than the additional earnings of an evening's work. The prevailing system of payment is on a piece-rate basis and throws some light on the willingness of the employees to work such long hours. One of the foremen explaining the girls' "eagerness" for extra work said: "During the summer months business is very dull, the girls working at times only 3 or 4 days a week. They have always counted upon making up this summer's loss during the Christmas rush. Were it not for the 10-hour law the girls could make from 3 to 34 days extra per week now. Take, for example, a girl who would ordinarily make $6 a week; this law prevents her from making $9 instead."

In this connection it is interesting to note that whereas the normal weekly earnings of over 50 per cent of the women represented in the individual tabulations who work 48 hours or more fail to reach $6, less than 21 per cent of them fail to earn as much as $6 during the long-hour week. It should be noted here that the normal earnings as shown in the individual tabulations take no account of lost time. They represent what a time worker receives if the establishment is in operation for a regular full week and she is present during the entire time; and what a pieceworker receives if she is kept supplied with work to her normal capacity for the same period. Furthermore, so far as the reports for those at work in 1909 are concerned, both the busy season earnings and the normal earnings are typical for the steadier, more experienced, and consequently higher paid employees, inasmuch as only women who had been at work in the industry for at least a year were included. For the great number that drift in during a busy period and fall out as the season closes, it was not possible to make a comparison of normal and rush season earnings.

That the girls work sometimes under high pressure to curtail the long hours is indicated in the further statement of the foreman quoted above, that many of the pieceworkers prefer to bring their luncheons and work through the supper half-hour, stopping at half past eight. This man insisted, however, that there was no great difficulty in getting the girls to return for the Sunday work, and cited as an evidence the Sunday of October 2, 1910, when of a force of 135 only 7 were absent. (There is no law in Illinois against working Sunday or 7 days in the week, so long as no working-day is more than 10 hours.) He further maintained that "the girls did not mind the long hoursindeed they rather enjoyed the work, looking upon it rather in the light of recreation." The agents of the Bureau, however, did not find any girl who regarded the work in that light.

The restrictions imposed by the 10-hour law have made it necessary to increase the force this season to the limit of factory space,

to extend the season of full 10 hours and of Sunday work as far back into the early fall as the anticipated orders and temperature will permit and to install as much labor-saving and time-saving machinery as is available. There are some firms in the industry, of course, that do not have the rush of business represented by these long hours, but they are, as a rule, firms with a short pay roll and did not represent prevailing conditions during the rush season, prior to the validation of the 10-hour law in April, 1910.

There is nothing unhealthful in the candy-making industry if the sanitation is not defective and if the toilet facilities are adequate. In the great majority of cases the operations performed by women require hand work only and permit either a sitting or a standing position. Such machines as are operated by women are not obviously dangerous when provided with proper guards. Such disadvantages as are chargeable to the candy-making industry arise from the length of the working-day and the low wage rates.

The individual hours and earnings of 499 women employed in the 8 candy factories included in this investigation are given in the table at the end of this article.

THE PAPER-BOX INDUSTRY.

Paper boxes are never out of season, because the range of sizes and sorts of such boxes must meet the demands of all box-using industries, whatever the season, and supply the needs of the trades that have a fairly steady business the year round. The firms engaged in making paper boxes seem not to have suffered from the recent business depression. Four of the 11 interviewed reported good business for the year 1909, an unusual press of orders thus far in 1910, and no firms made an adverse report on present conditions. The working hours, therefore, for the 2 years previous to January 1, 1910, are fairly typical of the schedule in prosperous years prior to the validation of the 10-hour law, April 21, 1910.

While it is true, as has been said, that the paper-box industry does not have its seasons as sharply marked off as some other industries, yet it does have its busy season. For this the Christmas present with its insistent demand for small and large boxes is responsible. The pressure of these orders usually begins about September 1 (in some instances the orders are taken the preceding January) and continues until Christmas Day. The accompanying tabulation of establishment schedules shows a number of firms reporting a busy season with no extension of working hours to meet the demands. As in all manufacturing industries, the margin of elasticity in productive power is usually brought into play in the paper-box business before an additional force is engaged or additional time is required of the regular force. This elasticity is sufficient in some cases to

meet the demands of a firm's busy season and explains the report of a "busy season" without the lengthening of the working-day. At such times the pieceworkers earn more money than during the ordinary level of business, as they are working under higher pressure. The time workers, of course, maintain only their regular earnings.

Just as during the busy season the women work under high pressure often being "pressed to the limit" of productive power-so during the slackened season the work is done under low pressure, in a number of cases the pieceworkers coming to work with but indifferent regard to the regular establishment hour of beginning and leaving with equally lax attention to the exact hour of closing. The accompanying tabulation shows the number of paper-box firms that observe the custom of working but a half day on Saturday a part of the year, and such as run less than a full day on Saturday the year round. In the summer time this short day is given as much to ease off the production to the lighter demands of the season as to adjust the working schedule to the liking of the employees. But during the rest of the year, and particularly during the season of high-pressure work, the short day is largely, if not solely, a concession to the demands of the employees who want the shorter day not only for rest and recreation, but for shopping opportunities and for a little leisure to attend to personal affairs.

Inspection of the working hours in these box factories shows that this short Saturday prevails usually even through the busy season in practically all of the establishments scheduled, without reference to whether a firm extends its working hours on other days or increases its working force.

HOURS OF LABOR OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN PAPER-BOX FACTORIES DURING NORMAL PERIODS AND DURING THE RUSH SEASON OF 1908 AND 1909, AS REPORTED BY EMPLOYERS.

a In summer closed at 1 p. m.

b For 13 weeks ran 50 hours per week.

Girls given one-half hour leeway, and several reported shorter hours than firm gave.

The 4 scheduled firms that required no extension of hours to meet the demands of the busy season represent an aggregation of 340 employees, and include one large factory employing 273 persons, and three smaller establishments. Of the 7 scheduled firms that required an extension of hours to meet the demands of the busy season, 1 firm recorded the long day as 13 hours, while 3 others reported it as over 11 hours, and 1 reported it as 10 hours; making a total of 5 firms that reported a long day of over 10 hours. It will be seen that the firm reporting the long day as 13 hours reported the high pressure as lasting 37 weeks in the year. In this establishment there was one 9-hour day, three 134-hour days, and two 10-hour days, making the total number of hours for the 6-day week 694. Two firms reported 12 hours as the "long day" schedule during the busy season, but there were but 8 and 8 working hours for Saturday and totals of but 62 and 65 hours for the week.

The establishment table further shows that of the 1,010 women 16 years and over employed in the 11 establishments investigated, 591, or nearly 60 per cent, were employed in the 5 factories working more than 10 hours a day during the busy season except on Saturday. Examination of the individual tabulation of hours of women employed in the 11 establishments, at the end of this article, shows that of the 575 women 16 years and over for whom reports were secured, 280, or nearly 50 per cent, reported a 6-day week of over 59 hours. As all of the firms ran fewer than 10 hours on Saturday, nearly 50 per cent, therefore, were working an average of more than 10 hours a day for 5 days a week.

It has been noted at the beginning of this article that the individual data were for only a single week of the busy season, but the establishment schedules show that the season demanding long hours lasts from 3 to 37 weeks. The prevailing period for the 7 firms reporting extended hours seems to be about 15 weeks.

It must be remembered that these hours affected presumably only women 16 years and over, as children under this age are legally restricted to 8 hours in any one day and 48 hours in one week. Because of the uniformity of the working day for girls under 16 years of age their individual reports were not tabulated, but the table summarizing the establishment schedules shows that over a fourth of the female employees in the 11 box factories scheduled are under this age. One manager of a large factory told the representative of the Bureau that this large proportion of children in the box factories was due to the greater adaptability of young girls, "their fingers are nimble and small so that they are able the more readily to manipulate the small boxes, some of which-particularly the baby-ring boxes-are less than an inch in any dimension. The processes, except in the highgrade work, are very simple and can easily be learned, speed coming with experience."