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Show RURAL SWEATERS. How tlio Wives and Daughter, of Farm. r Help to Keep Down City Wasn, There is one class of labor in the cloth-Ing cloth-Ing business which is worse paid than the clo&kmakers and than the Hebrews in the stuffy east side sweater shops along Division and its cross streets. They are fanners' wives and daughters. Dur-ing Dur-ing the fall and winter months there is little doing on a farm or in many small country towns. The head of the family works, but his wives and daughters have not much to do. Thoy find that by making clothes they can earn two or three dollars apieco a week during the afternoon and eveniuir. TIipv nr o-o workers, and they do honest, faithfia work, and the fow dollars that they earn is so much added to the family fund. It is enough for them to buy an occasional new dress and to take a few weeks at Ocean Grove or Asbury Park the next summer. Some of the large manufacturers have their goods cut and send nil the materials mate-rials with an agent around to tho country coun-try towns and farm houses where these people live. There are many such in New England and the middle states. The agent leaves enough work for a month, and calls around at the end of a month to inspect and take back the finished fin-ished work and to leave material for further work. These women do not have to live on their wages. Money in hand has an abnormal value to them. There are many of thein who do not have 20 a year to spend as they wish. They will work at a much lower rate than any work that can be done in New York. Of course, they can be used on only certain cer-tain standard grades of work, and not on orders that have to be filled rapidly. They do a great deal of the cheap work, cheaper even thaii tho sweat shops of New York. It is tho competition of these women which has cut down the wages in the clothing trade, and which throws out of work for several mouths in the year the regular clothing makers of New York city. As the country women will do the work so much cheaper the manufacturers throw as much work to them as they can, and all the cheap grades they are able to attend to. New York Sun. |