No satisfactory or adequate system of training for the more skilled processes exists in any of the factories, so that the need of some method of systematic training is evident, and the advantage of profiting by the opportunity offered would doubtless soon become apparent. A large amount of training in the specific processes of the trade, however, does not seem necessary and, with the wage prospect as it now exists, not desirable. Four facts seem to prove that the outlook is encouraging for a favorable reception and for patronage of a tradeschool course: First, the better factories in these trades do not receive girls under 16 for machine operating; second, employers show great interest in and approval of such a project; third, the economic condition of the family indicates that parents in Worcester could send girls to such a school; fourth, parents and children are interested in the suggestion. Possibly it would be necessary at first to begin with the shorter courses of 3, 6, or 9 months with the hope that as the school proved its effectiveness there might be added to the purely technical course, training in the needle trades and other subjects, which would make the girl more intelligent, more capable of advancement, and develop that larger power for economic independence which comes through right living and right spending.

The problem does not seem to be one of ability on the part of the family to give the child this training, but ability on the part of the school to persuade the child and parent that such training will in the long run be desirable. The fact must be faced that such courses are preparing the girl for the medium opportunity both as to the wage and as to development, with but comparatively small outlook toward the more advanced type of work and higher wage. For this reason it may seem desirable that different units of courses should be established as time goes on, starting with the shorter courses. Also it may become necessary to consider an effort to introduce part-time courses or regular courses in the dull season, if it is possible to discover that the less-skilled worker is dropped off earlier and would therefore have a sufficiently long dull season to make it worth while. Finally, it may prove wise to consider the establishment of evening continuation courses for the more mature workers.

(2) Dressmaking: But two industries requiring and offering opportunity for high-grade skill-dressmaking and millinery-are found in Worcester. The opportunity in this field is restricted here in two ways: First, in the smaller field and demand, and, secondly, in the high degree of skill, natural ability, and taste requisite for success. At present there are about a dozen dressmakers in Worcester who employ over 10 girls. Three of these employ a force of 20 to 30, and about 9 employ from 10 to 17 girls. Only about 18 of the 398 dressmakers in the city directory could be classed as employers in the true sense. A larger number employ two to three workers at

certain times of the year, but the majority, nine-tenths at least, are home or day workers, which illustrates the opportunity open to this type of worker.

Although Worcester is a social and economic entity, trades which are dependent on local custom and patronage suffer from proximity to Boston. Therefore, while the size and wealth of Worcester might seem to indicate large opportunities in dressmaking, the field is greatly decreased by the fact that the wealthier people of Worcester go to Boston to have their best clothes made or to get clothes readymade. These people say they can not get as good a product in Worcester as they desire. The Worcester dressmaker says she could give as good a product as the Boston dressmaker if she could get the same price for her product.

However that may be, the dressmaking trade and the dressmaker of Worcester are greatly handicapped by lack of responsible and skilled workers. Some say they refuse work rather than take on new and unskilled workers to meet the increased demand. Others close shop to accept the better-paid openings in the large establishments or to go out by the day because of the dearth of skilled labor. Advertisements for well-paid positions run for months for lack of skilled workers to fill them. Several causes explain the great dearth of workers in this most desirable trade. First, only two or three of the smaller dressmakers visited will take apprentices, so that the trade is practically inaccessible to young workers. The only means of entrance for the young girl is probably through the errand-girl stage. The errand girl picks up the trade at spare moments, but this is a slow and haphazard method. Moreover, there are openings for only about a dozen errand girls in Worcester. Second, the dressmaking trade has more of a professional character and necessitates a longer period for training and growth than do the factory industries. Finally, a higher degree of natural ability and artistic taste is being increasingly required, which explains to some extent the disappearance of the old apprenticeship system in this trade and the lack of workers able to qualify for the trade. Practically every part of this trade has become such a skilled process and material is so expensive that there is little opportunity or need for unskilled workers.

How, under these circumstances are young girls to learn this most desirable trade? Almost all the larger employers prefer young workers who bring freshness, deftness, and originality, but have not the time nor opportunity to teach young girls in the shop. Almost all are desperate for more workers, but where can they get them? The employer has no time to train young girls, and practically only one very limited avenue to the trade now exists, the entrance as errand girl, a pseudo-apprenticeship, as a French student has termed it. This method is, however, unsatisfactory to employer and employee; to employer because it can not meet the demand for numbers

and for young workers equipped with the fundamental principles and processes of the trade; to employees, because it can not be adequate or systematic, and necessitates a long preparatory period. of low pay and seemingly small return.

The dressmaking trade, therefore, shows the greatest need of some kind of a trade school where the girls can obtain the fundamental principles of the trade. Some workers with one year's training will be in demand in the trade. A larger number with two years' or more preparation will be required, for only large shops employing specialized workers need the smaller and less experienced girls in the workroom.

The outlook as to numbers and large pay is not yet very great in Worcester, due to the fact that the dressmaking trade there has not reached the higher stages of economic development. In Boston, for instance, seven distinct stages of economic transition are apparent in the dressmaking trade: (1) The day worker who goes out by the day at $1.50 to $4 a day; (2) the private dressmaker with a force ranging from 1 to 7 girls who are general workers of a medium degree of skill and ability receiving from $5 to $8 a week; (3) the small custom dressmaker with a force of 6 to 10 girls, of whom 1 usually has the title of head girl. The general workers receive from $5 to $8, as in the preceding stage, and the head girl from $9 to $10. (4) The larger custom dressmaker next appears with a force of 15 to 30 girls, among whom are a head waist girl, receiving from $12 to $15, head skirt girl with $9 to $12 and the usual subordinate workers characteristic of the preceding stages. (5) In the fifth stage each division of the actual production is isolated, with a head girl in charge of each; the head waist girl, head skirt girl, head sleeve girl, and head lining girl, each with her subordinates on a descending scale as seen in the preceding stages. Shops of this type have a force of workers ranging from 20 to 60 girls, who show a wide range of skill, responsibility, and corresponding compensation. (6) The sixth stage may be called the stage of specialization, where the head of each division of the work is a specialist. The head dressmaker with a weekly salary of $25 to $35, cutters and fitters appear in addition to the specialists in the actual production seen in the preceding stage. (7) The shop of the seventh stage shows one new and additional feature, the combination of sales and production departments. The shop of this stage may assume two forms, the commercial type in which a sales department of ready-to-wear gowns is added to the department of custom production, and the manufacturing type in which the so-called custom production for both local and more general, but still a so-called retail market is carried on. Such establishments have a head dressmaker with a weekly wage ranging from $35 to $50, and, in some instances, higher.1

1 These statements are drawn from an extensive study of the dressmaking trade which has been made by the research department of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston.

The first five of these types of the dressmaking shop exists in Worcester. Since there is only a comparatively small number of establishments which employ a large force, there is opportunity for only a few highly paid workers, as the employer herself in most cases does most of the skilled work. One shop, however, has a waist cutter and fitter who receives $25 a week, another shop a head waist girl at $20 a week. Three reported head waist, coat, and skirt girls between $12 and $18. The remaining report $8 to $10 for waist and skirt makers and $3 to $7 for helpers and finishers. Six or seven smaller dressmakers employ 4 to 6 girls at $6 to $8. Day workers receive from

$1 to $3.50 a day.

The demand for hand sewing in the factory industries is rapidly decreasing with the continual increase of perfected and specialized machinery. Corset factories turning out a high-grade product, however, employ hand sewers to sew lace on the more expensive product. One such corset factory alone employs 400 hand sewers at about $9 a week. Machines have wholly displaced handwork in the manufacture of muslin underwear, wash waists, and dresses. Heavier clothing, such as suits, coats, and skirts, still employ hand finishers at a weekly wage ranging from $6 to $15. The field is, however, quite small in this branch of the clothing trade of Worcester.

The higher type of girl, the broader education, and the greater stability of workers in the dressmaking trade stand out in marked contrast to the shifting force of the unskilled trades. The larger dressmakers say they seldom take on a new worker, holding their regular force year after year. Some of their workers have been with them 10, 14, and even 18 years. Reports from 54 workers in the trade showed that only 8 had had any previous occupation, and only 3 had worked in an unskilled trade. The workers, then, in dressmaking have seldom approached this high-grade skilled trade through the unskilled trades, but the custom in Worcester seems to have been to go directly from the schools into the trade. Forty per cent of the 54 workers studied were high-school girls and 30 per cent from the ninth grade.

The opportunity for trained workers in dressmaking in Worcester, therefore, seems to be for a limited number of young assistants, a fair number of older and abler assistants, and a great number of independent or day workers, with a fair or good wage and a good range in the type of work. This situation distinctly restricts the type of girl who can be advised or expected to go into the trade. It seems to be only the efficient girl, who in the long run may get somewhere near the top, for there is not room for a large number of intermediate workers except in the corset factory.

One employer of 12 girls has not taken on a new girl for 5 or 6 years. Some have been with her 14 years. An employer of 30 girls has only 1 new girl this year.