Based Upon Interviews With 200 Girls lnued by the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago Tntl>y Loube De Koven Bowen 1'U Based Upon Interviews With 200 Girls lnued by the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago Tntl>y Loube De Koven Bowen 1'U The Department Store Girl Based Upon Interviews With 200 Girls IM~ by tbe Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago Loube De Ko~Bowea 1911 THE DEPARTMENT STORE GIRL Ten-Hour Law There has recently been a great deal for Women of discussion in Illinois concerning the constitutionality of the Ten Hour Law for \Vomen, and the importance of having it apply to mercantile pursuits as well as to factories and to workshops. It is evident that the long day of twelve Long Hours or more hours cripples the human system, Recognized as dwarfs the mind, gives no time for culture Responsible for Physical and and recreation and shortens life. The ex Moral Break cessive fatigue induced by overwork, Down coupled with the minimum of time every day for leisure and recreation, often makes it difficult for girls to withstand the temptations which press hard upon them, and which lead to a moral as well as a physical breakdown. This is doubly true in the department stores where girls work surrounded by, and selling, the luxuries which they all crave for a wage compensation inadequate for a life of decency and respectability. There are 15,000 women employed in Peculiar the downtown department stores of Chi Temptations in Department cago and approximately 10,000 more in Stores the outlying neighborhood department stores. The Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago was desirous of getting at the working and living conditions of such girls, and in February, 1910, employed a woman investiStudy Began in gator who was to make the acquaintance Februacy, 1910 of, and, if possible, get at the stories of 200 department store girls, provided these stories could be learned without the girls knowing that they were being interviewed. As far as possible a general outline was followed in each interview, including questions about hours of work:, wages, physical and mental strain, home conditions, living with the family or boarding and opportunities for study and recreation. Two Hundred The 200 girls interviewed work:ed in Girls Inter30 department stores, 12 in the downtown viewed district, 18 in other parts of the city; they· were almost all American born, the average age being 19 years; 82 of these girls willingly gave their names and addresses. They were almost without exception nice· girls, good-looking and well dressed, for the rules of the department stores are strict in this respect and require that their girls shall be "clean and neat in appearance and avoid extravagance or display." Every woman knows that simplicity is costly and if a girl must appear each morning neat and well dressed, she must spend her Sundays at least, and very often her evenings, in going carefully over her wardrobe and in cleaning, pressing, washing and mending her clothes instead of being able to devote her leisure time to cultivation or recreation. Perhaps one of the most interesting Majority of things developed by the investigation was These Girls Live With Their that 173 of the girls lived at home, and Families of these 126 paid their entire wages every week: into the family exchequer; of those remaining 36 paid from $2.50 to $6.oo per week: for their home board and only I I had the entire use of their own money •. 20 Per Cent The salaries of the girls varied from Receive $s.50 $2.50 to $11.00 a week:; 7 of the girls or Less received $3-50 per week and less; 33 received $4.oo to $5.50; 54 received $6.oo; 68 received $6.50 to $8.oo; 19 received from $8.50 to $10.00 and one received $n.oo; the balance were paid on a commission basis. It has been estimated that if a girlA Girl Cannot does not live at home she cannot live on Live Away from Home on Less less than $8.oo per week, for she has to Than $8.oo per pay $1.50 to $2.00 per week for her Week room, $3.00 for her board, 6o cents for her carfare and 90 cents for luncheons; this only leaves her $1.50 or $2.00 for clothes, doctors, dentists, literature and recreation. The girl who lives at home and who Only the Poorgives her wages to her mother is, of est Accommoda course, protected in that she is clothed, tions Afforded Those Who sheltered and fed, but the girl who is not Live Away living at home is obliged to rent the from Home · .cheapest room she can find from·a landlady who is utilizing every possible inch of space for lodgers; the girl is able to afford only a small hall bedroom, poorly lighted, inadequately ventilated and poorly furnished, and it i.s only a short time before impure air and improperly cooked food produce an amemic condition which offers a fertile field for all disease. A few of the large department stores No Pay for Time Off the have a Sick Benefit Association, which Usual Rule docks twenty-five to thirty-five cents per month from the clerks' wages for sick benefits, which entitles them to half-pay if ill for a short time. No one is eligible for this ASsociation unless they have been in the employ of the store for one year. Almost all of the stores dock the full pay when the girls are off. The majority of the stores require their Length of girls to be on duty at 8 :oo a. m.; this Working Day Frequently means that the girl must rise at 6 :30; the 1oIA to II~ average time. for luncheon is ~ of an Homa hour; the \lSual ·time for leaving in the larger stores is 6:00, sometimes 6:30 p. m. From the down town stores the average length of time required to reaclt home and get supper is one to one and a half hours; the girl clerk: work:s from 9 to IO hours a day, but the ride in the trolley often mak:es a day of ten and a half to eleven and a half hours. The long hours and constant standing Quality and of the department store girl make nour Quantity of Food Usually ishing food a necessity, but this she can Insufficient not always procure. The majority of these girls spend from ten to fifteen cents a day for luncheon, · which usually consists of coffee and doughnuts or coffee and pie or something of this kind. One investigator, for a period , of a month, attempted to eat the same luncheon which she saw being taken by the department store girls, but at the end of that time she was obliged to discontinue, as her digestion was upset and she felt the need of more nourishing food; yet we cannot wonder that out of her modest income the department store girl cannot afford to spend more than ten or fifteen cents for her noonday meal. One young girl who did not speak: A Girl Who English very well was engaged as a Tried to Live on $2.50 per bundle wrapper in a department store at Week $2.50 per week:; she was obliged to support herself and when found by the Protective Association was paying $1.50 for her hall bedroom, walking to and from her work: to save carfare in shoes literally without soles and endeavoring to satisfy her hunger on the remaining dollar, and with the food given away at the demonstration. counters of the neighboring department stores. The department store girl is much Temptations of more subject to temptation than is the Shop Girl Greater Than girl who works in the factory, for the Those of Fac latter is more protected during her work: tory Girl ing hours as she comes in contact only with her fellow-workers, while the department store girl meets a large number of other people and is constantly sur rounded by the articles which are so dear to the feminine heart. She sees passing and repassing all day women who are gorgeously arrayed in the very kind of clothes which she naturally covets and she encounters three dangers. First, she may be accosted and tempted Difficult to Pro by the well-dressed, good-looking woman tect Girls from Advances of keeper of a disreputable house, who will Procurers engage her in conversation and probably invite her to her house. As illustrating this first danger, a young girl working in the cloak department of one of our large department stores waited upon a well-dressed woman who was apparently accompanied by her daughter. She purchased a cloak and engaged the young clerk in conversation, telling her that she looked hot and tired and asked her if she would not like to go out to luncheon with her; the girl, seeing no harm, accepted the invitation. A few days later the two women appeared again and, saying that they had taken a fancy to ·the young girl, invited her to spend Sunday with them at their apartment on the North Side; they promised to return for her when the store closed and take her to their home; needless to say, the so-called "home" was a disreputable house. Second, the girl is often at the mercy Girl Has Little of the cadet, who is the recruiting officer Chance to for a disreputable house; he may pur Protect Herself chase articles from her and make insulting remarks, while at the same time he makes up his mind as to whether or not he will be able to persuade her to enter into an immoral life. It frequently happens that if a girl refuses to have any conversation with the man outside of business communications, he reports her as impertinent to the manager or floor walker, and many of the girls say that in a number of the stores, as the result of such a charge, they are at once dismissed without a cliance to even give the other side of the story. As an illustration of this second dan- A Girl Starving for Pleasure ger, a young girl selling at the ribbon Is an Easy Prey counter in one of the department stores was accosted by a young man who purchased several yards of ribbon and then invited her out to lunch with him, telling her that if she had a friend he would bring his chum and they would have a family party. The girl, starved for pleasure and anxious for some excitement to relieve the monotony of her day, invited a girl friend and they both accepted the invitation. The girls lunched with the young men several times a week: for three months, and then they were also invited out to dinner; finally, one night the two couples became separated and the girls, who had been given some drugged wine, found themselves later on ruined, bewildered and deserted. Third, the girl is at the mercy of "the Girls Frequently man higher up" in her department; if in Danger from "Man Higher he makes advances to her that she does Up,. not accept, he can tell her that her services are no longer required. It is a difficult thing for the. department store girl, under these circumstances, to be able to keep her position. Some time ago two girls came into the rooms of the Protective Association, the one leading the other by the hand. The elder one said: "I have brought to you my sister; for me, it is too late, but I do not want her to work any longer in the department store where she now is or it wi11 be too late for her." The Juvenile Protective Association, after investigating the reputation of the man at the head of her department, found a place for her elsewhere. The outlying or neighborhood depart Conditions in ment stores are located all over the city, Outlying Department several miles from the large stores on Stores South State street; many of them are in districts thickly settled by foreigners,· where women find it easy to shop in their own neighborhood, thus saving carfare, and where they can negotiate their purchases in their own language. These stores supply every want for the families in the neighborhood, from stoves and furniture to clothing and musical instruments; girls who live in the neighborhood become the saleswomen and are usually required to know one other language besides English. Many of the women do their shopping in the evening, leaving their husbands to look after the children, and in these stores the girls work from 8 :oo a. m. to 9 :oo p. m. three nights in the week, from 8 :oo a. m. to 10:00 p. m. or II :oo p. m. on Saturday and 8:00 a. m. to 6 :oo p. m. two days in the week, thus giving them two evenings off; they also often work: all or part of Sunday. It was found, however, that almost without exception girls preferred to work: in these outlying stores, because they could live in the neighborhood and avoid the long street car rides, and they agreed that to be packed in a street car from half an hour to an hour every morning and night, seldom finding a seat, and if one were found, having people hanging over them and leaning against them, was much more tiring than the work: of the entire day. Another reason given for preferring Possibility of the smaller stores was that it was pos Luncheon and Supper at sible to get home for luncheon and supHome per; also that in the small department stores the customer would almost invariably explain why she was miling the p~rchase . and this information, with other friendly conversation, would add interest and excite ment to the sale which was always lacking in the downtown stores. The need of keeping these stores open Long Hours of in the evening is due more to competi Outlying Stores Not a Business tion than to the real needs of the custo- Necessity mers. In several districts where the stores had all agreed to close on a Sunday or on a certain night in the week, the managers stated that there had been no loss of trade, for the neighborhood had learned to adapt Itself to the change. With these long hours of work is it ' Always Tired! any wonder that 173 of the girls com Tired Backs, Tired Hands, plained that they were always tired! Tired Feet • Many of them stated that their backs ached from the constant standing, as they were not encouraged to sit down even when seats were provided ; that they were often obliged to slip off their shoes and that it was almost impossible to get them on again at night because of their swollen feet ; that many of them had to sit with their feet in hot water after they reached home and that they were almost always too tired to read, too tired to eat and sometimC3 even too tired to sleep! A young girl of twenty-two had worked Ten Years in a Department for ten years in a large department store; Store. Worn first, as cash girl, and later as clerk:. She Out at 22 gave up her position because she could stand it no longer; she earned $1.00 a week:, on which she helped support her mother and two younger children; she said that none of her money went for shows, dances, ice cream, or anything frivolous; she knew the value of a dollar becau5e she work:ed hard enough to earn it; -she never read, as she was always "too tired"-so tired that when she went home at night she felt as though she must scream. She always hoped to marry and have a home of her own, but she felt that she couldn't stand the work much longer; she must have some amusement; she never had even her Sundays, as she had to spend the·entire day cleaning up her ward~ robe; her greatest pleasure was to go to an occasional dance, although she could not afford to go unless invited. The following is a typical story of a From Country girl who lived with her family in Wiscon Town to City sin. The mother and father dying, the Basement girl was obliged to leave high school and to go to work:; there was nothing to be found in the little country town where she lived and she came to Chicago and secured work: at $3.50 per week in the Tinware Department in the basement of a large department store on South State street; coming from the outdoor life of the country, she found it very difficult to work where the air was bad and where there was nothing but electric light. "The easiest thing I do," she said, "is to wait on the trade, but, my! it is hard to haul and lift the tinware, move the pots and kettles, take them down from shelves and put. them back again, move them from one stand to the other and get ready for sales days; they make the girls do all this lifting and it is really terrible how we do have to work: down in this basement. I hue been here in Chicago a year and have only met one family of nice people. I do not have time to mak:e acquaintances. I love to read, but I have no chance to get library books; all I see is an occasional paper. I get home so late that I ain too tired to go out at night and, besides, I have to wash and mend my clothes. I wish people would just come and live in this basement and they would see that life down here is not very pleasant." In many of the department stores, Thirteen Houra especially during the holiday season, the a Day for Two Weeks in girls are required to work all the evenDecember that ing, _often working 13 hours a day or Patrons .May Properly Celemore for th~ two weeks before Christbrate the Birth mas. For this no extra wage is paid, ex of Christ cept that they receive from 25 to 50 cents supper money ir. the larger stores. All of the stores make large profits at the holiday season, but they are made at the expense of thousands of employes, whose weary feet and aching backs are the result of the mad rush to shop on the part of thousands of Christian people who are thus seeking to express the kindliness and goodwill which our Christmas commemorates! One Christmas Eve, at eleven o'clock: The Irony of ".Merry at night the car was full of young shop- Christmas" girls who had been on their feet all day; those who could not find seats sat down on the floor and to the remonstrances of the condqctor replied that they were "too dead to stand another minute." The women clerks in the department At Least Two stores are always glad when they find Days in Bed Necessary to that Christmas comes on a Saturday or Recover from the Monday so that they will have a chanec "Celebration" to "stay in bed for two days and rest up." Some of the larger stores allow their Vacations with Pay Exception. employes who have been with them more Not the Rule than a year a vacation with pay for one or two weeks, but the majority allow no pay whatever for time off. Of the 200 girls seen, 94 stated that they had no such thing in their lives as recreation, no dances, no concerts, not even a five-cent theatre! 58 of them acknowledged that they sometimes went to dances, although many of them said that they were nally too tired to enjoy dancing, and we un fortunately know that the girl who goes to the unchaperoned public dance hall in a state of exhaustion is in a dangerous position, for she craves the stimulants which are always offered to her and. which frequently lead to further excesses; 48 of the girls stated that they attended 5 and IO cent theatres, but not one girl was found who patronized those which were higher priced, and the majority stated that they could not afford to go at all unless they were invited. "No Time to Only two of the girls were found who Read" the Usual took books from the public library; one Story only bought magazines; 36 bought a penny newspaper; 43 did some miscellaneous reading, usually novels borrowed from friends, while I 18 claimed that they never had time to read anything, even a newspaper! One girl said that her greatest pleasure was to buy an occasional apple to eat while reading a book:, and to try and make the apple last as long as possible. "Wish I Was A young girl of twenty-four, three Deadn years in a large department store, earned $6;00 a week:. She "doesn't mind the work: so much, although selling notions is very trying because people are so fussy." She said her feet were giving out, ho,vever, and it was all she could do to get home at night; she found that the draughts from the doors blowing constantly on her gave her repeated colds, and the dust caused by so many people passing hurt her throat; she was tired and "wished she was dead." Appeal for Half All through the interviews with the Day Off 200 girls the investigator heard the wistful expression: "If we only bad some time during the week when we could get a little rest; when we could get caught up; when we could have a little recreation." Everywhere the need was felt for a half-day off. Four of the better department stores close Saturday afternoon regularly during July and August, and it is to be regretted that the oth~ large stores are . not willing to curtail their profits in order to give their employes a half holiday each week:. If the shopping public would remember that the weary girls need rest, and on Saturday afternoon would keep away from the big stores, then there would be no incentive to k:eep open. When we remember that all work: and Vice Commis no play is injurious to health as well as to sion Says that Economic Conmorals, and that even the work: done is ditions Make for not rewarded by a living wage, we cannot Prostitution wonder that the recent report of the Vice Commission of Chicago which emphasizes that economic conditions make for prostitution, also states that the investigation of II9 women who had gone wrong, and who were found leading immoral lives in houses, dance halls and on the streets, shows that I 8 women came from department stores and that 38 stated that they had entered the career because of their need for money. Some had entered it for the barest necessities of life as in the following instance: Close to the A young widow with a small child, Border finding it impossible to obtain a situation, finally took a position in a downtown lunchroom in a department store and received $3-50 a week; out of this she paid $2.00 a week for a furnished room, in which she lived with her four~year-old boy. She locked hi~ in during the day and fed him out of the remaining $1.50 left over from her wages. She herself lunched on what was left on the plates in the department store; her supper consisted of rolls which she managed to take home in her pock:et. She was pretty and attractive and began to receive invitations to dine out with men. These she accepted because she was "so hu~gry" that she felt that she must have a good meal now and then. She finally dined with a man who saw the temptations be.fore her and went to the United Charities, saying that the woman needed a friend and that unless something was done for her she would be forced into an immoral life. "The Easiest ·Thousands of shopgirls live on six Way" dollars a week: in Chicago. The majority do it honestly, but they do not have nourishing food, adequate shelter, warm clothing or any recreation. According to a census tak:en by the Woman's Trade Union League of Chicago 25 to 30 per cent of the women employed in the department stores of Chicago are not receiving a living wage; they may earn an existence, but not enough to secure fullness of life, and when a girl wearies of it she quickly learns of the possibilities of a career which seems to offer luxurious living wtih abundance of recreation. Is it any wonder that she sometimes chooses "the easiest way?"