90 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



Some of the operatives could get satisfactory food in the better class 

 restaurants of the vicinity. But, as a rule, they are either unable or unwill- 

 ing to spend the 35 cents for which a satisfactory luncheon is served in the 

 restaurants which are patronized mostly by office and retail store employees. 



The food sold in the cheap places is of inferior quality and it is this 

 food which is mostly bought by the operatives. In connection with the lunch 

 question it is important to note that those factory employees — like cutters, 

 pressers, etc., who have to stand at their work do not get either proper food 

 or rest during the lunch hour. Insufficient space in the restaurants where 

 seats are provided, necessitates the hustling out of the lunchers at a rapid 

 rate. The men, in order to smoke, have to stand or walk on the streets. 

 While this is a relief to the machine operator who sits at his work the cutter 

 and the presser get fatigued and according to some of the observant manu- 

 facturers their work- in the afternoon falls below the standard of their work- 

 in the morning. A great deal of friction is caused by this between employees 

 and employers, the former insisting upon a day wage, while the latter, in 

 order tu shift the consequences of the decreased efficiency of the workers, 

 prefer a piece wage. Neither the employee nor the employer is really 

 responsible for this decrease in efficiency — it is brought about solely by the 

 overcrowding of the factory district. 



Congestion on transit lines at rush hours 



Work in all garment shops starts promptly at 8 in the morning and 

 ends at 6 in the evening except on Saturday, when work stops at 12 o'clock 

 noon. During the busy season, overtime work is performed from 7 to 9 in 

 the evening. Thus it will be seen that of necessity all the employees use 

 the transit lines about the same time and since they congregate within a 

 few Mucks in their respective home districts the transit lines carry them all 

 practically the whole distance together. On this account the cars are 

 crowded to the limit of their capacity morning and evening. The Board 

 of Health has encountered great difficulty in attempting to prevent even 

 greater overcrowding. 



Actual timing along Sixth Avenue and Fourth Avenue has proven that 

 15 minutes' wait is the average for the individual would-be passenger be- 

 tween 6:15 and 7:15 o'clock. At the 14th Street and 8th Street intersections, 

 the workers waiting for the crosstown cars to take them to the lower East 

 Side or Williamsburg stand occasionally for half an hour. Twenty minutes 

 is iln average wait between the hours of 6:30 and 8 in the evening. 



Sidewalk congestion 



According to a count taken on September 14, 1915, the only one of 

 which I have knowledge, 2,454 persons passed the observers on the east 

 side of Sixth Avenue from 26th to 27th Streets in the half hour from 

 12 :20 to 12 :50 p. m. To this number should be added 617 persons who 

 were counted standing still, making a total of 3,071. Unfortunately I have 

 no corresponding figures for the congestion in the factory districts. None 

 of the large factories in Manhattan, except perhaps the National Cloak 

 and Suit Company of 207 West 24th Street, has any data showing the 

 places where their factory employees live nor have any maps been prepared 

 to show Mich facts. 



Rest rooms and welfare work in factories 



In the waist and dress industry most of the better class manufacturers 

 provide rest rooms, lunch rooms and facilities for preparing simple food 



