Louisville.-Comparatively few of the working girls of Louisville live in tenements. Many reside with their parents or friends in frame cottages of from two to three rooms each. These are usually comfortable homes, being well lighted and ventilated, and, though plain, often well located amid attractive surroundings. The sanitary condition of the city is good, wages, except in a few industries, are fair, and living is comparatively cheap. The working women are, as a class, honest, respectable, industrious, and polite, but from this statement must be excepted nearly all of those who are employed in the tobacco factories. These, with few exceptions, are ignorant, coarse, and filthy. The mixture of races and sexes in this employment, and the character of the work itself, have doubtless had their effect in producing this condition. There is a great variety in the conditions under which the girls work. In some establishments the sanitary conditions are very good, in others very poor. As a rule the greatest friendliness exists between employers and employés.

Newark-The houses of the working people are usually of frame, in long rows, but not tenements, except on a few streets. In the "Neck" and in East Newark the working classes are rough; elsewhere they are respectable, well-to-do, and comfortable. The sanitary conditions are as good as the nature of the case admits, but the general health of portions of the city is said to be affected by the proximity of the marshes or salt meadows. The manufacture of buttons, corsets, shirts, boots and shoes, trunks and travelling bags, hats and caps, silk, and cotton and linen thread gives employment to large numbers of women and girls, and the work for the most part is very steady and quite remunerative. The thread mills especially employ great numbers of girls, one factory alone giving work to nearly 800, classified according to occupation as follows: Spoolers, 90; twisters, 150; winders, reelers, and examiners, 114; paper box makers, 120; ticketers and packers, 42; employés in spinning department, nearly 300. These thread mills are among the very best of industrial establishments as regards neatness, sanitary conveniences, and precautions against fire. In these mills there is good light throughout, and proper ventilation except in the spinning department, where a humid atmosphere is essential, and where, consequently, the windows are kept closed. Notwithstanding the humidity of the air the dust is very thick, rendering work all the more unhealthy. In the thread mills proper the work is light and very clean. The wages are good and the class of employés superior.. It is thought proper to specify the conditions of employment in this industry because it occupies such an important place among the branches of business in Newark which give employment to women. As to other industries the conditions are somewhat varied. In some of the stores the wages are low, the hours long, and the rooms dark, but as a rule the general conditions are rather favorable than otherwise.

New Orleans.-Creole character and customs give an individuality to

the working life of New Orleans, and render comparison with other cities difficult. The population being mainly derived from the Latin races, it follows the mode of living of its French or Spanish ancestors, but incorporates it without inconvenience with the national existence. Like their French progenitors, the creoles live well on what Americans would throw away; hence the excessively low pay which prevails in some employments does not entail dire poverty. Even from the pittance earned by the sewing women there is always enough to buy a lottery ticket.

The tenement house happily does not exist, but the lodgings of the poor are mainly dark, circumscribed, and unsanitary. Separate homes are unusual except in the suburbs. The sewerage of New Orleans is a paradox, the drainage being into a lake higher than the city, and "back water" floods the sewers at every rain. Food is abundant, especially products of the sea and the tropics. Culinary art reaches a high perfection, and the poorest may live well.

The Roman Catholic population is large and devout. The moral con ditions at home are no worse than in any other city, while in the shops they are unusually good. In the cigar and tobacco factories the girls are of a better class than in northern establishments of the same industry, and the sales women are noticeably refined and educated. In many shops "breakfast" at 12 o'clock is given to the employés, and among the milliners and dressmakers two good meals a day are often furnished. This mingling of proprietor and help has advantages from both social and moral standpoints, and the shop girl in these pursuits is a model of decorum. Most employers take proper care of their help, and antagonism of interests is unusual.

New York. Two features in the conditions of New York city so largely affect the working women there as to dwarf all other considerations-the tenement house and the influx and concentration of foreign immigration. The existence of separate homes is a rarity even among the well-to-do industrial classes. The crowded condition of the poor and struggling is beyond belief, unless actually witnessed. This brings with it disease, death, immorality, etc. Tall rear tenements block up the small air-spaces that are insufficient even for the front, and often a third house stands behind the second. Sewerage is lacking or defective, and stenches of all kinds prevail in the poorer quarters. The new tenements are built with more attention to air, light, and cleanliness, and there is a growing movement towards securing better homes for the working population. Ground being so dear, rents are enormous. The necessaries of life are high, and many of the poor live on the refuse of the markets. On the other hand, the comforts of life are found in the vilest tenements. Carpets and clean beds, lace curtains, upholstered furniture, pictures, pianos, and organs are not infrequent.

Among the foreign settlers the illiteracy is very great. Ambition to learn English, however, fills the night schools with eager pupils, while

the native population is content with ignorance. Working girls born in New York are alert and worldly wise rather than well educated, even according to the standards of the public schools. The pressure of necessity drives them early into the workshop.

The moral condition of the working women is influenced for evil by the tenement-house home in a way too vast for discussion here. One noteworthy cause of immorality is the taking of men as lodgers for the sake of extra income. Another is the long distances girls are compelled to traverse after dark, especially on leaving stores which remain open till 10 or 11 o'clock on Saturday night. Another is the crowding of friendless young women to the metropolis, where they live without home restraint, suffering every conceivable discomfort, subject to long periods of idleness, which they often enter upon with an empty purse. Even among the lowest grades, however, there is a ready response to gentle treatment and an innate politeness that can spring only from a kind heart. The truest heroism of life and conduct was found beneath rags and dirt. In dress and bearing the better class of working girls compare favorably with women of leisure and refinement. The almost invariable church contributions, especially among the foreign population, indicate a steady church attendance.

As respects ventilation, a properly regulated work shop is the excep tion. The average room is either stuffy and close or hot and close, and even where windows abound they are seldom opened. Toilet facilities are generally scant and inadequate, a hundred workers being dependent sometimes on a single closet or sink, and that too often out of order.

The moral conditions of the shops vary with the character of the occupation, the foremen and forewomen, and the interest the proprietor takes in his employés. Wherever the sexes work indiscriminately together great laxity obtains. In well conducted rooms the tone is often higher than in the girl's own home. Open violations of morality are rare, and always discountenanced. Wherever the employer was personally acquainted with his people the standard of conduct was apt to be excellent. In many an instance, however, the employer openly declared that so long as his work was done he did not inquire or care how bad the girls might be.

Considering the cost of living, wages are little, if any, higher in New York than in other cities, though the number of well paid positions being greater the chances of promotion are better.

Actual ill treatment by employers seems to be infrequent. Kindness, justice, and cordial relations are the general rule. Foreigners are often found to be more considerate of their help than native born men, and the kindest proprietor in the world is a Jew of the better class. In some shops week workers are locked out for the half day if late, or docked for every minute of time lost, an extra fine being often added. Piece workers have great freedom as to hours, and employers complain much of tardiness and absenteeism. The mere existence of health and labor

laws insures privileges formerly unheard of; half holidays in summer, vacation with pay, and shorter hours are becoming every year more frequent; seats for women and girls are more generally provided; better work shops are constructed, and more comfortable accommodations are being furnished.

Philadelphia.-In Vol. XVIII of the Tenth United States Census, page 830, the following comments are found as to the system of housedrainage and sewerage in Philadelphia

While the work done includes some well planned and well constructed main sewers, the system as a whole is totally and inexcusably bad, violating nearly every accepted principle of sanitary engineering, and inevitably counteracting those natural influences which are so conducive to the health of a population. It is, however, proper to call attention to the generally accepted and doubtless correct statement that the death rate of Philadelphia is lower than that of other cities which have fewer palpable defects in their public and private sanitary works. This low death rate can be ascribed only to the very favorable conditions under which the working classes of the population live. As a general rule-and this is a very marked and most interesting feature of Philadelphia-every family lives in its own house, and every individual lives and sleeps in a room well lighted and ventilated by outer windows. This condition removes from the problem the most important feature of "overcrowding," to which is due so much of the mortality of large cities the world over. The proper inference would seem to be that, this factor being absent, if a proper system for the removal of household wastes could be extended to all parts of the city of Philadelphia, it might reasonably be hoped that there would thereby be secured a lower death rate, even much lower than that of any other city of the world.

The foregoing extract presents very clearly one feature of the home conditions of the Philadelphia working class, viz, the preponderance of separate homes. Notwithstanding this fact, it is curious to notice that the proportion of working women who live in lodging houses, boarding houses, or private families, as indicated by this investigation, is larger than in any other city visited except Boston and Saint Paul. No especial attempt was made to interview those who board, and it is presumable that the proportion which they bear in the cases investigated to girls who live at home is about the normal ratio in the working popu lation of the city.

The moral tendencies of the Philadelphia working women are of a distinctly high order. Young women who support themselves are, as a class, respected and self-respecting. The majority of working girls have church affiliations and duties, and contribute to religious institutions in some form. Very many-so many as to constitute a marked feature of Philadelphia working life-teach in Sunday schools and labor zealously for the church. The educational facilities of Philadelphia are excellent, and fondness for reading, lectures, music, and art is quite pronounced. Many of the homes contain pianos and books, and the furnishings combine effectiveness and taste with cheapness. There is

a disposition to save, but the competition for place and work is great, and as a consequence wages are rather low.

The textile manufactories of Philadelphia are of great importance and extent, and have trained a large body of skilled work women, who can always earn a living at their trade. Some of the mills are new and handsome, others are old and inconvenient, and the sanitary condition of most is open to criticism. In certain factories the division of labor is carried to the last extreme, the girls being proficient in but one of many processes. The worsted yarn mills employ very young girls, sometimes violating the law against child labor.

Fining for bad work is general but, as a rule, not unjustly enforced. The shop rules are sometimes stringent, and in certain industries wages are reduced by charges for machine rent, cotton, repairs, etc., to an extent not obtaining elsewhere.

The actual competition of women with men is a feature of textile factories and cigar making in Philadelphia, and in many cases the women earn equal pay with men for the same work.

Squalor, ignorance, and vice, though not absent in the shops of Philadelphia, are not so offensively prominent as in some of the large cities. Providence. The homes of the working people in Providence are generally frame buildings, accommodating from one to four families each, the tenement house proper being almost unknown. These homes are very comfortable and rents are low.

In the neighborhood of certain of the mills, where the houses of the employés are owned by the mill operators, drainage is neglected, and the health of the inhabitants suffers, but generally speaking the sanitary conditions are fair. The home surroundings of many of the girls in the mills indicate education and thrift, carpeted floors, books, pictures, etc., being not infrequently found. Over 20 per cent. of all the women seen in the investigation were found boarding, either in the boarding houses connected with the mills or in private families.

The educational advantages are very superior, the school system being excellent, but the schools are depleted by the mills into which children are received as soon as they arrive at the age permitted by the law, and in fact the law is frequently disregarded.

Religious observances are general, and the general morality of the working women is unquestioned.

The older mills are defective in light, ventilation, and space, are often without dressing rooms, and frequently the ordinary sanitary requirements are disregarded. These conditions, with the floating dust incident to work in the mills and the rigor of the climate in the winter season, induce diseases of the lungs. The extensive jewelry manufactories are usually well suited for their uses, but parts of the work are said to be very injurious to health. Wages correspond with those received in other manufacturing centres. Fines are common, sometimes becoming a heavy grievance.