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Show Condition of the Ohio Shoemakers. In 1887 shoe fitters were indeed a happy and fortunate lot of girls. In busy seasons they made $1.00 per day; even in dull seasons their average was rarely less than 50 cents per day. This was due to the organization of the shoe trade in a union, whose scale of prices was fixed by arbitration. The board of arbitrators was composed of one member selected by the firm, one by the girls, and the other chosen by these two. But since the break up of their organization, which occurred early in 1888, the wages have been steadily going down. The employer fixes the price of wages, and the introduction of new systems and new machines has a tendency to reduce the wages. Weekly wages have superseded super-seded the piece system, children and unskilled un-skilled persons are employed, whom the old hands are required to teach, and the wages are so reduced that the girls are ashamed to admit the amount of the reduction. re-duction. It is estimated that they are not more than half what they were before. be-fore. Very little effort is being mude toward reorganization, and great discontent discon-tent prevails. Cincinnati Enquirer. |