is very characteristic of East Side tenements. She paid $36 a year for
lodging, and yet can scarcely be said to have received for this sum any
definite space at all under a roof-tree, honestly provided for her as her
own, but simply the chance of getting such a place when she could.

If she had attempted to find a better and less expensive place for
sleeping, in a less congested quarter of the city, she would have been
obliged to pay, besides her rent, a sum at least half as large, for
transportation. In the same way, for this really very large sum of $15 or
$20 paid yearly to the city railroads, she would not have received in
their cars any definite place at all, honestly provided for her as her
own, but simply a chance of getting a foothold when she could on a
cross-town car or the Bronx elevated during the rush hours. The yearly
sums paid to the car companies by factory workers too exhausted to walk
home are very striking in these budgets. Tina Levin had paid nearly
$30--more than she had spent for her clothing during the year. This
expense of carfare and the wretched conditions in transportation which
most of the car companies supply to the workers compelled to use their
lines in rush hours is a difficulty scarcely less than that of New York
rents and congestion, and inseparably connected with them.

Anna Flodin, a girl of eighteen, forced by illness to leave the congested
quarters of New York for the Bronx, did not attempt to return to work
until she was able to live again within walking distance of the factory.

Anna Flodin was a pale, quiet girl with smooth black hair and a serious,
almost poignant expression. All her life had been one of poverty, a sheer
struggle to keep the wolf from the door. She spoke no English, though she
could understand a little.

She stitched regularly in the busy season 1568 yards of machine sewing
daily in fastening belts to cheap corset covers. The forewoman gave her
in the course of the day 28 bundles, each containing 28 corset covers
with the belts basted to the waist lines and the loose ends of the belts
basted ready to finish.

The instant Anna failed to complete this amount, or seemed to drop behind
in the course of the day, the forewoman blamed her, and threatened to
reduce her wage.

Anna worked in this manner ten hours a day, for $6 a week. If she were
five minutes late, she was docked for half an hour. She was docked for
every needle she broke in the rapid pace she was o