re few
factories,--manufacturing being confined to clothing, boots and shoes,
and a few other forms. Domestic service has the largest number of women
employed, and stores and trades absorb the remainder. There is no
overcrowding save here and there in the cities, as in St. Paul or
Minneapolis, where girls often club together in rooming. While many of
the workers are Scandinavian, many are native born; and for the latter
there is often much thrift and a comfortable standard of living. The
same complaints as to lowness of wage, resulting from much the same
causes as those specified elsewhere, are heard; and in the clothing
manufacture wages are kept at the lowest possible point As a whole, the
returns indicate more comfort than in Colorado, but leave full room for
betterment. The chapter on "Domestic Service" shows many strong reasons
why girls prefer factory or general work to this; and as the views of
heads of employment agencies are also given, unusual opportunity is
afforded for forming just judgment in the matter.

Next on the list comes the report from California for 1887 and 1888. The
resources of the bureau were so limited that it was impossible to obtain
returns for the whole State, and the commissioner therefore limited his
inquiry to a thorough investigation of the working-women of San
Francisco, in number about twenty thousand. The State has but one
cotton-mill, but there are silk, jute, woollen, corset, and shirt
factories, with many minor industries. Home and general sanitary
conditions were all investigated, the bureau following the general lines
pursued by all.

Wages are considered at length; and Commissioner Tobin states that the
rate paid to women in California "does not compare favorably with the
rates paid to women in the Eastern States, as do the wages of men, for
the reason that Chinese come more into competition with women than with
men. This is especially the case among seamstresses, and in nearly all
our factories ... in other lines of labor the wages paid to females in
this State are generally higher than elsewhere."

Rent, food, and clothing cost more in California than in the Eastern
States. The wage-tables show that the tendency is to limit a woman's
wage to a dollar a day, even in the best paid trades, and as much below
this as labor can be obtained.

In shirt-making, Commissioner Tobin states that she is worse off than in
any of the Eastern States. Clothing of all orders pays as little