I. THE EXODUS OF YOUNG GIRLS FROM SCHOOLS.

These industries offer openings for a large number of young girls. In 1910, 700 employment certificates were issued to 14 and 15 year old girls leaving school to go to work, an increase of 40 per cent over 1905. Sixty per cent of these girls were 14 years of age, and more than one-half had not reached the ninth grade in school. Of 214 homes visited, the majority on a conservative estimate showed that economic pressure was not the impelling force of the large outgo of young girls. Yet 25 per cent of these girls had left before reaching the seventh grade, and 71 per cent were from Swedish, Irish, and American families. Such facts seem to indicate the need of additional lines of training not yet provided by the public schools which will meet the demands of the "motor-minded" girls who are not forced by economic pressure to go to work as soon as the law allows.

II. INDUSTRIES WHICH YOUNG GIRLS ENTER.

Two great industries draw more than half these girls just out of school. The machine-operating trades drew 38 per cent, the corset factories receiving the larger proportion-28 per cent, and the textile mills 18 per cent of last year's outgo. The other half are employed in mercantile establishments, metal trade and paper goods, various forms of clothing manufactures, and scattering industries which can not be considered from the industry point of view.

III. KINDS OF WORK OPEN TO YOUNG GIRLS.

The little girl of 14 or 16 has opportunity to enter only unskilled work, or "blind-alley" occupations. Even in the machine-operating trades, where there might seem to be opportunity for rise and financial advance, the opportunity is apparent rather than real; for here, too, young girls must begin on the unskilled, monotonous, and mechanical work. A large proportion of the girls either (1) lose the capacity for or fail to develop the intelligence and responsibility necessary for a higher grade of work; (2) become impatient with the monotony and discouraged with the outlook; or (3) are laid off in slack season and drop out of the trade. The masses of the young girls, therefore, not easily adapting themselves to the preliminary processes, drift from one place to another, thus learning or becoming proficient in no one trade. Hence arises the army of drifters and unskilled laborers. When they reach the age which makes them eligible for the better trades, such as high-class machine operating, dressmaking, and millinery, they have not the capacity for taking advantage of the better opportunities. The more skilled industries have no satisfactory system of training the prospective worker for the trade, so that the mass of workers who begin work in the unskilled trades remain there and have no way of bettering their condition.

IV. WOMEN-EMPLOYING INDUSTRIES.

A. The unskilled industries. Of the four factory women-employing industries, the unskilled trades-textiles, metals, and paper goodsemploy 48 per cent of the women workers. These trades in themselves offer little outlook either for self-development or for social advancement. The workers in the trade are, therefore, all the more in need of opportunity for supplementary trade development. Nevertheless, there would probably be small opportunity for these workers to profit by such courses offered in a technical or trade school except in evening schools for the more mature worker. A large number even then could not be reached because of the demands of the ten-hour working day on the physical strength of the woman worker. In the textile trades alone is found a sufficiently large number of girls to make part time work feasible. These are the workers who leave school at an early age. Therefore, it is through the unskilled industries employing children that these workers must be reached during the 14 to 16 year old period.

B. The skilled industries-(1) Machine operating: Machine operating, the remaining factory industry, employing 52 per cent of the women factory workers, presents a stage of transition from the unskilled to the skilled trades. Certain phases of machine operating, such as stitching on canvas goods and overalls, hemstitching, and tucking ruffles in muslin underwear, and the simpler and more mechanical processes in the corset factories, can not be called more than low-grade skilled work and hence command a wage ranging from $5 to $10. On the other hand, making the finer, more expensive corset, and certain processes in the better grade lingerie require a fair degree of skill, and good workers can command from $10 to $15. Machine operating in the shoe factory also requires a high degree of skill, the less skilled operators receiving from $8 to $12, while the highly skilled workers range from $10 to $25. Since, however, there are no factories in Worcester which produce a high grade of women's clothing, there is not the opportunity for highly skilled workers on the lighter and more agreeable materials that is open to machine operators in New York or Boston. Increased skill on the part of the workers might perhaps be instrumental in inducing the manufacturers of Worcester to expand their business by the introduction of a finer grade product. The introduction of a trade school might, therefore, augur the development of a more desirable product, hence broader opportunity for highly skilled workers.

The study of machine operating, therefore, shows that there is a large number of factories demanding ordinary machine stitchers at a usual wage of $7 or $8; a fair opportunity for a better class work requiring a higher degree of skill, as in the better corset factory, where a wage of $12 to $15 may be secured; and finally, opportunity

for a large number of operators in the manufacture of lingerie, with a range of from $5 to $15 but a usual wage of $8.

It must be remembered, however, that this trade is not one to attract the girl of great ability, but rather the girl of moderate ability or the girl in pressing need of economic independence.

(2) Dressmaking.-But two industries in Worcester offer opportunity for a high grade of skill, dressmaking and millinery. The dressmaking field is restricted from the standpoint of the prospective worker in two ways; first, because of the small number of large shops, and, second, because of the comparatively few highly paid positions, a natural consequence of the small shop. This may, however, be due partly to the dearth of skilled workers in the trade. This dearth of workers has come (1) because of the disappearance of the apprenticeship system as a means of access to the trade, (2) because the dressmaking trade has more of a professional character and necessitates a longer period for training and development, and (3) because of the increasingly higher degree of natural ability and artistic taste required by the trade.

The dressmaking trade is therefore primarily a trade for the girl of natural and artistic taste and the girl without the necessity of immediate economic independence. There are openings for only about 20 young workers, with a year's training, to enter the trade each year at present. The outlook as to numbers and large pay is not, under the existing system, very great, though the availability of trained workers might enlarge the opportunity both for larger numbers and for higher pay. Plain sewers in custom shops or corset factories receive from $6 to $10, a few head waist and sleeve girls range from $12 to $18, and two head waist girls receive $20 and $25, respectively. The beginnings only of specialized work and workers can be seen at present. The large opportunity is distinctly that of the day worker at from $1 to $3.50 per day, and the independent worker, whose wage possibilities can not be discovered. This requires, however, larger experience than is apparently now available through shops.

(3) Millinery.-Millinery, unlike dressmaking, still retains a system of apprenticeship by which young girls can learn the trade. The labor situation, therefore, is less serious than in the dressmaking trade. Millinery, like dressmaking, is primarily a trade for the girl of natural and artistic ability, and even more than dressmaking a trade for the girl without the necessity of immediate economic independence, because of the short seasons. In spite of this fact the millinery trade can choose from many aspirants to the trade.

The shops of Worcester offer opportunity for about 50 new workers annually under the present system and about 200 altogether. The trade has two fairly definite divisions. One, requiring deftness and some millinery taste, employs the majority of workers, called "mak

ers," who range from $3 to $10. The other, requiring a high degree of artistic sense and skill, offers opportunity for a smaller number, but at a higher wage. The ordinary trimmers range from $12 to $20, though two were discovered at $25, and one in charge of a large force at $45.

V. CONCLUSION.

The industries in which women are and can be employed in large numbers may be divided into three groups:

1. These are industries in which the processes are so mechanical that but little training is required for their operation, such as the textile mills, the paper industries, and the metal trades. In the paper and metal industries comparatively few young girls are employed. Therefore, their training must have been reached either by remaining in school until they were 16 or 17, or while they were engaged in some of the child-employing industries. For such trades, consequently, the industrial training must either be offered in connection with the regular school work, or in connection with the child-employing industries, as part-time (continuation) instruction or as evening work for the older girl. In the textile industries, however, girls are being employed. Here, also, is the problem of all our great textile centers. Since the industry itself has but little promise for the woman, it would seem that the girls here employed should be given some part-time (continuation) instruction, which would develop greater intelligence in their industry and at the same time a knowledge of those trade processes which would enable them to contribute to their economic welfare in the home, such as the use of the needle and the knowledge of domestic work. This type of evening courses for mature workers is doubtless that which should be given to those who are employed in the other trades (metal and paper trades). Similarly, the mercantile establishments attract 163 girls and afford one of the chief avenues through which girls who will enter other industries later may be reached. If they can not be drawn away for trade courses, they should be taught, as would the girls in the textile industry, through parttime instruction.

2. The second group of industries contains those in which the processes require a larger or smaller amount of skill according to the type of work being done, and for which there is a possibility of fundamental training which shall not only contribute greater intelligence in the less skilled part of the processes, but shall afford a power to advance to the more highly skilled work; such an industry is the machine-operating industry. The training for this industry must always be considered as looking toward a probable medium wage as great as in any of the other industries and toward work far more desirable in character, but at the same time offering a possibility for the more intelligent to attain a wage suitable for highly skilled work.

There are in this industry large numbers of children, as has been shown. The majority of these children do not pass up into the advanced work and should be drawn away from the industry for a shorter or longer course, as seems possible, so that when they do enter these unskilled parts of the trade their knowledge and their intelligence will afford them opportunity for continuous advancement. Or to these children should be given part-time instruction which would fit them for the skilled processes, and enable them to pass on to the higher type of machine operating.

This is the great industry for women in Worcester in which there is a possibility for training and for the development of skill. It is, therefore, upon this industry that training should be concentrated, giving as large an opportunity as the children will accept for shorter or longer preparation, in the technique of machine operating, but supplementing this course with training in the needle trade and in domestic economy. It seems probable that any plan for training should also contemplate three features as a later development. Part-time training might be anticipated for the younger girls who can not be prevailed upon to give full time for even a short period; specialized operating for those who have been able to take only a short period of training; and evening work on special machines for the ambitious young woman who is now in the industry.

3. The group of industries in which there is the opportunity for the most highly skilled work and therefore for the highest industrial opportunity and wage, dressmaking and millinery, is found to a limited extent in Worcester.

In dressmaking, the outlook is distinctly for the mature and independent worker. But the field is extremely limited, and the means by which the young worker, even with a certain amount of training, can secure experience or training are lacking. Both of those conditions are due to the small number and small size of the specialized shops. Both offer special problems for solution in connection with trade training, and must affect the kind and length of courses given. Only a small number, perhaps not to exceed 20, should therefore be given a short or one year course of training, since opportunity to enter the trade at the bottom and work up is at present so limited. Similarly, longer courses, two, three, or four years, in which the more advanced principles are taught, seem essential. Dull-season courses for the girl with a shorter preparation, or evening courses teaching certain definite parts of the trade to the older girl with a professional attitude, would probably necessarily follow in the development of the training. To this work, therefore, would be directed the girl with that type of ability which makes for success in the trade, and only the girl without pressure for immediate self support, or with force of char