THE MUSSEL FISHERY AND PEARL-BUTTON INDUSTRY. 
309 
giving’ a total of S14 for 1897 and 1,434 for 1898. Of tlie latter, 1,042 were males and 
392 females. 
In tlie factories in wliicli finished l)nttons are made, from 30 to upward of 200 
l)eople are employed, the males and females being in about equal numbers. Tlie 
factories which simply produce the “rough blanks” employ ouly males, the number of 
whom averages ouly 14, and only one such factory employs more than 30 persons. 
This is an extensive establishment in Muscatine, having 110 hands in 1898. 
Taking a large Muscatine factory as an example, the following are the various 
capacities in which the employees are engaged: 
Nature of eiiiployinent. 
Cutters (all men) 
Dressers and grinders (boys) 
Facers (girls) 
Drillers (girls) 
Sorters and carders (girls) 
Packers, etc. (girls) 
General employees (men and lioys). 
Managers and clerks ' 
Total 
5ri 
30 
30 
32 
30 
15 
15 
3 
210 
The best wages are received by the cutters, who are always men. In the larger 
factories they are paid 5 to 10 cents a gross (14 dozen) for “rough blanks,” according 
to size. Skilled men can cut from 150 to 200 gross of blanks per week, and can earn 
$15, but the average is $8 to $10. 
While the cutters are paid by the gross, the quantity is determined by weight, as 
too much time would be lost in actually counting the blanks. A scale of weights per 
gross for blanks of different sizes is established. Thus, 1 gross of 2{)4ine sand-shell 
blanks weighs 1^ pounds. 
The pay of grinders is 1.^- to 2^]- cents a gross, or from $5 to $7 a week. 
Dressers are paid 1 to 2 cents a gross, and make about $4 50 a week. 
Facers receive 2 to 3 cents a gross, and earn $4 to $6 ai week. They are usually 
young women. 
Drillers are iiaid If to 34 cents a gross, and make about $5 a week. 
Those who sort the buttons into lots homogeneous as to size and quality are ])aid 
by the day, and earn about $3.75 a week. 
The price paid for sewing the buttons on cards is 3 cents a gross. The girls who 
do this work make $4 or $5 a week. 
'Those who pack the carded buttons in boxes and the boxes in the shipping cases 
are jiaid $5 a week. 
PRICES AND MARKETS FOR BUTTONS. 
It was very generally reported in 1898 that the button industry was being over- 
done by the establishment of numerous small factories at which rough blanks were 
sawed. Many persons engaged in the business without proper equipment or expe- 
rience, and the very short life of some of the factories shows that the remarkable 
increase in the business in 1898 was not a healthy growth. Some of the output was 
not of standard quality, and a general lowering of prices has been a result. 
The prices received for rough blanks in 1897 and 1898 ranged from 19 to 20 cents 
a gross, depending on size and quality. The prices corresj)oiided rather closely with 
the sizes, an 18-line blank, for instance, bringing 18 cents a grossj but as a rule the 
