HOURS.

In spite of the general tendency throughout the country toward a reduction in working hours, Virginia is still backward in joining this movement. According to the Census of Manufactures1 29.6 per cent of all workers in the country worked 54 hours a week or less in 1909. In 1914, 51 per cent of all workers had a working week of 54 hours or less, an increase of over 20 per cent in five years. In Virginia, however, the same report shows that in 1914 only 25.5 per cent of the workers worked 54 hours or less. This situation was emphasized in the schedules of hours which were secured from the 146 factories visited.

Daily hours.

Table II shows the daily hours worked by the women employed in the different industries.

TABLE II.-Number of women working each classified number of daily hours in 144 plants in Virginia in December, 1919, by industries.a

In two plants employing 41 women the daily hours of work were not reported. The hours of 729 women employed on night shifts in six plants are not included in this table.

Two plants, employing 405 women, in the tobacco industry worked over 10 hours.

c Plant totals are not actual totals as some plants represent more than one industry and some are included in more than one daily hour group.

It is extremely significant to note in this table that 2,001 women employed in 13 plants were found to have a working day of eight hours or less. The fact that their employment for such hours in so many instances was successful is an indication of the possibilities

1 Abstract of the Census of Manufactures, 1914, p. 482, Table 212.

which may be attained through the good will and intelligent efforts of managements which are awake to the needs of their workers and the importance of maintaining high standards in the industry.

The largest number of women (8,322) were employed 10 hours or over. Of this number only 405 worked over 10 hours, the remaining 7,917 working a straight 10-hour day. This group constitutes over 46 per cent of the entire number of women included in the survey. The next largest number of women were employed between eight and nine hours a day, 4,051, or 22.5 per cent of the total number of women. coming within this group. The distribution of this number among the various industries is particularly interesting. The tobacco industry, which employs over 5,000 women 10 hours a day, employs nearly 2,500 over eight and less than nine hours a day. The textile industry does not make such a good showing, with only 454 in the shorter-hour group, against 2,299 in the 10-hour group.

Weekly hours.

No less important than the length of the working day is the length of the working week, and Table III gives the weekly hours of work by industries.

TABLE III-Number of women working cach classified number of weekly hours in 143 plants in Virginia in December, 1919, by industries,a

In three plants employing 71 women the weekly hours were not reported. The hours of 729 women employed on night shifts in six plants are not included in this table.

Nearly 3,500 women were found to be working 48 hours a week or less, and these women were employed in every industry covered by the investigation with the exception of the peanut industry.

The weekly hours of work for the majority of women included in the survey fell into two groups, 39.7 per cent being employed over

Women.

Plants.

Women.

48 hours but under 54 hours, and 38.1 per cent working over 54 hours and under 60. In many of the industries there was very nearly an equal number of women whose hours of work fell within each of these two groups. Four thousand five hundred and ninety-seven women in tobacco plants worked over 48 but under 54 hours, and 4,643 worked over 54 but under 60 hours. Four hundred and five women were employed over 60 hours a week in two tobacco rehandling plants. These hours were not contrary to the Virginia law, as this law permits rehandling plants to employ women more than 10 hours if a permit is secured from the State bureau of labor and industrial statistics. One thousand two hundred and twentynine women in the textile industry worked between 48 and 54 hours, and 1,215 worked between 54 and 60 hours. In the manufacture of hosiery and knit goods three plants employing 420 women ran over 54 hours a week, while two plants employing 362 women worked 48 hours.

From the foregoing figures it would seem that the arrangement of both daily and weekly hours is dependent not on the special needs of different industries, as examples of all hours are found in almost every industry, but on local standards in individual plants, although certain industries, notably the clothing and printing trades, have advanced far ahead of the others in the matter of providing a working day of reasonable length.

What does it mean to the well-being of the State that 46 per cent of its women are working 10 hours a day and 40 per cent over 54 hours a week? There is nothing more vital to any community than that the strength and health of its industrial workers should be maintained and guarded. Especially is this true of a group of women on whom depends not only so large and important a part of the industrial work of the State, but also in many instances the maintenance of a family and the rearing of future citizens.

A typical story of the life of a working woman whose hours are from 7.30 a. m. to 6 p. m. was told to one of the investigators by the woman herself. Deserted by her husband and with two little children to support, she went to work in a tobacco factory. To be at the factory at 7.30 she had to get up at 5.30, cook breakfast, dress the children and take them to a day nursery, leaving home at 6.30. As the factory did not close until 6 in the evening, and she had to stop for the children on the way home, she did not get home until 7 o'clock. Then the housework must be done, and the children's clothes made, with the result that bedtime did not come much before midnight. This is not a story of an isolated case. Fifty-nine women were interviewed by the investigators and 37 of them supported others than themselves, 21 being responsible for the care and maintenance of children. The women who were interviewed were se

lected entirely by chance, as-they were met in the factory, in the Y. W. C. A., at the day nurseries, or in their homes, so they can be considered to be fairly representative of the entire group of working women who were included in the survey.

It is not only the married women, or those who must help at home, who feel the strain of the long hours. One girl, a weaver in a silk mill, working from 7 a. m. to 6 p. m., said that Saturday afternoons and Sundays she almost always spent at home, too tired to go out. She said she did not do anything special at home-" just sat." She had found she could not even go to the "movies," as her eyes became so tired she did not dare use them for anything except work. In the tobacco industry a condition was found illustrating the evil effects of long hours spent in doing monotonous repetitive work. Many of the girls who place the container on the wrapped cigarettes, who fit on the box, or who paste the stamps are afflicted with a constant shaking motion of the entire body. This affliction is like a mild form of shaking palsy. The superintendent of one plant laid it to temperament. "Some girls are more nervous than others, and just hurry more." However, as the output of these girls was no higher than that of many not afflicted, that explanation was not satisfactory. One girl said "It's all in the way you begin; some people teach you to do it and some don't." Another girl said: "You do the work as fast as you can; you reach for the cigarettes, for the tin foil, for the box, and, if you get a little behind, your body keeps right on making all the motions even if your hands don't keep up. Sometimes I'm so tired at night I would give anything in the world to be able to stop doing it."

Frequently women in Virginia start work at 7 o'clock in the morning and do not leave the factory until 5 or 6 o'clock at night. On the other hand, women in the same industries, at the same occupations but in different plants, are working hours which leave them time for rest and recreation, and enable them to take an intelligent part in the life of the community. From an industrial viewpoint the shorter hours do not appear to have been a drawback. The group of plants running the shorter hours were competing successfully with many other plants in the same industries which were running 10 hours a day and over 54 hours a week.

One fact, however, which stood out through the entire survey was the universal observance of the existing law limiting the daily hours of work to 10. It speaks well for the enforcing authorities. that they have been able to insure to its fullest extent whatever legal protection along these lines already has been given to the women of the State. No examples of illegal overtime were found in the 146 plants surveyed. The two plants which did report a working day

of more than 10 hours were tobacco-rehandling plants, where the longer hours were not against the law.

Saturday half holiday.

The Saturday half holiday was found to be observed almost universally throughout the State. Of only 31 plants, employing 1,159 women, was it reported that the Saturday closing hour was later than 1 p. m. Thus experience and custom in Virginia have already given sanction to the half holiday on Saturday, which now only needs legislative indorsement to secure universal application.

Lunch period.

At least one-half hour was allowed for lunch in every one of the 146 plants visited by the investigators. Whether a 30-minute lunch period is adequate depends very largely on the local conditions, both in the plant and in the neighborhood surrounding the plant. It was found in many localities that it was the custom for the employees to go home for lunch, and occasionally complaint was made that it was difficult to get back in time. In many other cases, however, the girls felt they would rather have a shorter lunch period and get off earlier in the evening. In plants where no provision is made for a lunch room, and where the employees live at too great a distance to enable them to go home for lunch, it can be easily understood that it might be unnecessary and even unpleasant to spend more than half an hour in eating sandwiches while sitting in a dusty workroom with no lunch table except the machine and no chair except a makeshift stool or box. Some processes of work clearly demand a rest and lunch period longer than 30 minutes, and 30 minutes for lunch should be considered a minimum in all industries. The determination of a satisfactory lunch period is dependent upon the locality, the industry, and the desires of the workers themselves. It would seem that the general practice in the State has conformed to such a policy, and the only adjustment necessary could be met by intelligent cooperation between management and workers, with a law to establish a minimum standard.

Night work.

Very little work was found being done at night, but the fact that six establishments, employing 729 women, were operating night shifts would indicate that there is a need for the establishment of a definite prohibition of this condition, which has been shown in so many ways to be such a serious menace to health and efficiency. Four of the establishments which were running night shifts were making cigarettes and two were manufacturing paper products. In neither of these industries is there any inherent reason for night work, as the process of manufacturing is not necessarily continuous, nor is the product perishable nor the industry seasonal. The abo