254 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



branch of the industry. Their skill is acquired in a few months, and 

 they can only do certain kinds of work. This subdivision of labor 

 makes it possible to train and employ almost at once the thousands of 

 new arrivals, and out of the employment of these new arrivals and the 

 conditions resulting from their ever increasing competition arise the 

 sweat shop and its evils. The sweating system produces a condition 

 of affairs in which the operative performs the maximum amount of 

 work for the maximum wage, the length of his working day only 

 limited by his endurance, and, even when he extends himself to the 

 limit, in many cases he can earn scarcely enough to keep him from 

 starvation. This work in addition is performed under the most un- 

 sanitary conditions, often in the foul vitiated atmosphere of tenement 

 rooms which are used alike for working, eating and sleeping. 



Effective organization is difficult, well-nigh impossible among these 

 clothing workers because of the influx of new arrivals and the employ- 

 ment of women and children in the so-called home work. Legislation 

 has done much to ameliorate sweat shop evils. The workshop in the 

 home is seen much less frequently than formerly, and is fast disap- 

 pearing. A certain amount of work upon clothing will inevitably be 

 done at home, called ' finishing,' by women who are not entirely de- 

 pendent upon it, but who increase the aggregate earnings of the fam- 

 ily in this way. Much of the work in the clothing trade is now done 

 in shops, especially fitted for the purpose. These shops are more amen- 

 able to inspection under our factory laws, and a great deal has been 

 done by state inspectors in this direction. 



Another institution charged to immigration, of which we hear al- 

 most as much as we do of the sweat shops, is the so-called ' padrone 

 system/ The padrone system is simply the extortion practised by 

 unlicensed Italian employment agents, who, by their knowledge of our 

 language, are in a position to oppress their credulous, ignorant fellow 

 countrymen in a variety of ways. The worst features of the system 

 have been eliminated through the enforcement of our laws, and the 

 remnant of the system would disappear if the Italian immigrants could 

 be distributed to the rural districts, instead of being at the mercy of 

 padroni in the crowded Italian quarters of our cities. 



It will be seen that the competition of the newly arrived unskilled 

 laborer with native Americans is indirect. He competes directly only 

 with other alien laborers, who are already settled in the country. On 

 the other hand, the alien skilled laborer competes directly with native 

 Americans. In some trades the foreign arrivals who are skilled come 

 singly or in small groups, and can be taken into the labor organiza- 

 tions without trouble and no reduction in wages results, but when the 

 stream of skilled arrivals of any particular trade is of large size and 

 constant, organization is impracticable. The new arrivals have to 



