Читать книгу The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work - Virginia Penny - Страница 57

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A very interesting description of the employment of ladies in the United States Mint at Philadelphia will be found in Godey's Lady's Book, of August, 1852. Col. Snowden, Director of the Mint, writes to me as follows: "Women are employed to adjust the weight of the blanks or planchets, preparatory to the coinage—each piece for the gold coinage being separately weighed and adjusted. So also are the larger coins of silver; namely, the dollar and the half dollar. They are also employed in feeding the coining presses. There are about fifty women at present employed. This force is amply sufficient for our present operations, and for any additional amount of work that the mint may be called on to perform. The employments in which they are engaged are healthy and pleasant. Some years ago the women received seventy-five cents a day in the adjusting room, and eighty-five cents for those employed in the coining room. Since that time I have increased their per diem compensation to $1.10 in both departments. They are paid monthly. Men employed in labor of a similar character secure about $2.20 per day. A day's work is about ten hours; ordinarily the women do not work more than seven or eight hours; sometimes more, sometimes less, but never beyond ten hours. There are no other occupations in the mint, than where they are now employed, suitable for women. I am greatly in favor of employing women, and I have extended the employment of them as far as it is practicable. For adjusting the weight of coins, and attending or feeding the coining presses, I consider women as not inferior to men, except that they cannot endure work for as great a number of hours." The adjusting room is kept very close, as even the breath of a person may affect the gold dust. The windows are kept closed on that account all the year. Visitors are not permitted to enter this room. I have been told that the adjusters wear chamois dresses, which they change before leaving the mint. They are required to wash their hands and clean their nails before leaving the premises, lest gold dust should be in them. A great many applications are made for situations in the mint. None but a thoroughly honest person should occupy so responsible a place."