TABLE 13. Average Customary Working Time and Average Hours Actually Worked in a Representative Week, Classified by Industries and Localities.

According to the above table it appears that in nearly all localities the average number of hours actually worked per employee (male and female) in each of the three groups of industries during the representative week was slightly less than the average number of regular full-time working hours.

It will be observed that the maximum average customary number of hours of labor for males (56.7) was found to be in the group of paper box factories located in Boston and vicinity. The average number of hours actually worked, however, during the week under review, by the male employees of these establishments, was 54.7, or two hours less than the normal working time.

The average customary number of hours worked by female employees. varied from 51.4 in Boston and vicinity, for those engaged in the manufacture of paper goods grouped under the caption "Other Paper Products", to an average of 54, the legal maximum which prevailed in several localities represented in each branch of the paper products industries covered by this report.

V.

THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PRODUCTS.

1. PAPER BOX MAKING.

The manufacture of paper boxes has become an important and growing industry. For the most part the work is done by women and girls, but the heavier work, such as machine work, the handling of large sheets of box board, and the shipping, is done by men, while boys serve as errand boys and operate simple machines.1 Supervisory and accounting clerks and mechanics and their helpers are also required in large numbers, while the transportation of supplies and of the finished product furnishes employment to many drivers and chauffeurs. Many establishments own their own transportation equipment, but in some cases this work is done. under contract. In some of the large establishments extensive plants are maintained for supplying heat, light, and power, necessitating the employment of engineers and firemen, but in the smaller factories gas or electricity as power is purchased directly, thereby rendering unnecessary the maintenance of a distinct power plant - an important item in the cost of production of the large establishments.

The development of the business has been accompanied by inevitable changes in methods, the manufacture having been transformed from a hand to a machine industry. In the earlier days a box maker was a trained worker, handling few tools and capable of performing every operation required in making a box. To some extent hand work still lingers in the trade, and, although it now constitutes a comparatively small part of the process of paper box making, it can hardly be dispensed with entirely, because very little machine work is done in the making of the best grades of boxes, such, for instance, as are now used as containers for the highest priced candies and for expensive jewelry. Boxes of irregular shape or of unusual character are also made by hand. The tremendous increase in the use of paper boxes, creating a demand for cheaper goods and for more rapid production, has led to the very general introduction of machinery. This increased demand is of comparatively recent growth. Innumerable articles which formerly were wrapped in paper or put into paper bags are now boxed before they are put on sale. Shoes, hats, clothing of nearly every kind, candy, crackers, and biscuits, phonograph records, electric-light bulbs, breakfast food, toilet articles, cigarettes, and a bewildering variety of other goods are now packed in paper boxes, often as soon as manufactured. In fact, the box has become such an important part of the finished product that in many cases a box-making

1 See Bulletin issued by the Girls Trade Education League.

department has been installed in establishments engaged in making articles for the retail trade, this method having been found more satisfactory than having the boxes made at a regular factory.

In order to keep pace with the growing demand, machinery has been devised and improved until now, in a highly organized factory, the workers are principally engaged in tending machines, the operation of which demands manual dexterity, but no great amount of skill or muscular strength. Accordingly, there has resulted a quite general employment of women and juveniles. Of late years the restrictions provided in the child labor law in this Commonwealth have resulted in the employment of older children than were formerly employed in the box-making industry. One employer reported that it had been his custom to employ children without much regard to age during the summer vacation period, but now, because of the necessity of procuring employment certificates, etc., he no longer employs any minors under 16 years of age. The young people are first employed as strikers and helpers and from these occupations are transferred to the better-paying positions as fast as they show aptitude for the work.

Those employees known as "bench workers" or "table workers" constitute the most skilled workers in this industry, as they are employed in making the expensive boxes of an unusual character which are made mostly by hand. It is in this occupation, as a rule, that one finds the worker, often an elderly woman, who has had the training and possesses the artistic as well as the mechanical ability to perform the work required on special kinds of boxes. Practically all bench workers in this line are well paid. There is constant demand for novelties in the shape of handmade boxes. The bench worker, therefore, enjoys a freedom from that monotonous work which attends the constant operation of machines producing the standard products.

The working conditions in paper box factories are not altogether unpleasant. The almost continuous handling of paste or glue in some of the operations, with the occasional smearing of hands and clothing, is in itself somewhat disagreeable, but in their efforts not to spoil the goods on which they are working the operators become extremely skilful in handling these adhesives, and usually their clothing is protected by large aprons. The odor of glue and paste, which is so disagreeable to those unaccustomed to it, exists in many factories, but is minimized in a great measure by proper ventilation and by care in the heating of the glue.

Two conditions in the industry which affect the general health and welfare of the employees are the use of dangerous machinery and the fact that many of the machine operators are obliged to stand while

working. The "stayer" is probably the most dangerous of the machines on which women work, no practical device having yet been perfected by which accidents on this machine may be prevented. In some establishments steel finger protectors, similar in appearance to a thimble but covering more of the finger, are in use by operators of staying machines. These protectors do not entirely prevent accidents, but do tend to lessen their ill effects. The older workers object somewhat to wearing the protectors because they tend to diminish the speed of operation and so reduce earnings. The corner cutters, too, generally operated by men, are another source of accidents, but these machines can be, and in many places now are, protected by safety guards. In operating one machine, the operator (usually a woman or girl) is obliged to balance herself on one foot while using the other to trip a lever, and to continue this work for the entire day.

More than five years ago the inspectors of the United States Department of Labor, after investigating the conditions of woman and child labor in the box-making industry in this State, reported that it was then possible to equip the dangerous machinery with practical safety devices; nevertheless, many machines now in use are not so equipped. The expense of installing the devices and the fear of a reduced production by machines equipped with them has been largely responsible for the delay on the part of the employers in making these improvements, and the employee, also, is naturally averse to using any device which would tend to reduce earnings. There is, however, some indication that conditions are improving in this respect, one manufacturer of box-making machinery having recently reported that for some months all of the new machines leaving his factory had been equipped with modern safety devices. The laws of this State, as well as of many other States, require that seats be provided for women engaged in certain occupations, and the general adoption of a law of this nature will, in time, bring about the construction of seats on all machines which are now operated while the worker stands.

Nearly all of the male employees in paper box factories are paid on a weekly basis, but many of the female employees (more than 50 per cent) are paid on a piece-rate basis. In some establishments the operators on certain machines engage their own helpers and make their own bargain with them as to compensation, but this is by no means a general practice.

The work is somewhat seasonal, the rush periods depending upon the kinds of goods manufactured. Generally there is a busy season, varying from a few weeks to two or three months before Christmas, and a shorter rush period just before Easter. The period following the Christmas rush

and the summer months are usually dull periods. In those factories. where the principal articles manufactured are staple, such as shoe or cigarette boxes, the work is practically non-seasonal, but where novelties or fancy boxes are made there are apt to be well-defined rush and slack seasons. In order to hold their working forces together during the dull seasons the larger establishments find it to their advantage to make up work during the dull months and to store the finished goods until wanted by the consumer.

Although the various processes of box making are very much the same in all establishments, the work devolving upon the different employees differs according to the size of the establishment and the style of box made. In the smaller factories one employee may be engaged on several processes while in the larger establishments a single process may be performed by two or more workers. Likewise the names of the various occupations differ in the several establishments, consequently there are more occupation names than distinct occupations.

The two standard types of paper boxes are what are known as the "stiff" box, such as those in which candy is packed, and the "collapsible" or folding box, such as are used for ice cream and crackers. Some establishments specialize in one or the other type, but seldom is the manufacture confined to a single type. The folding box is not only cheaper than the stiff box but is decidedly less bulky, and in some cases requires no further operation than the simple creasing or shaping by machine. These boxes are shipped from the factory in large bundles in "knockeddown" condition and are opened and shaped as needed. Some folding boxes have one glued edge which is fastened by machine and these, like the unglued boxes, are shipped "flat", in quantities.

The stiff box involves more processes in manufacture than the collapsible box and it varies greatly in style. The cost varies according to the materials used, the difficulty in manufacture, and the durability, size, etc., of the boxes. Thus an expensive candy box is much more difficult to manufacture than an ordinary shoe box, the former being more artistic than durable, while of the latter the reverse is true. Some boxes are made entirely by hand, others by machinery; some are made almost entirely out of one piece of material, while others are made from separate pieces. Those boxes which are designed for only temporary use or as containers for boxes of better quality are not covered or trimmed, while those which are for more permanent use are often covered with white or colored paper, and in some cases are finished in an expensive and artistic manner.

The stock used in the manufacture of paper boxes is newsboard, made