LABOR IN NEW YORK.

Southland Times, Issue 1263, 10 June 1870, Page 3

LABOR IN NEW YORK.

The special correspondent of the iondon Daily News, writing from New York, says: — ''*•'■"/• Having given some account of the ways of the upper ten thousand, I will pasJß to the other end of the social ladder, jand relate the experience of an Irish emigrant-: who came over here without a farthing jn_ her pocket, t Jane, r who, s unliker niost servants here,isiainatty, modest-looking girl, has been occupied, whilst I have been; writing, in making my bed, and I nave'. " interviewed" her. This is the result of the interview: — Jane is the daughter of a cottier in county Eight years ago, at the age of 16, her father paid her passage over here, gave her 10s| and left her to make her own way in the world. After a yoyage which .lasted j six weeks, during which Jane somehow igot rid of her 10s, she landed in New York. One of the noblest and most useful institutions in this country is the^ Emi- j gration Bureau. . It is an organisation, j kept up by the State to look aftier emigrants on their arrival, and : is admirably managed. Emigrants bound I to New York are landed at, the battery, aTlargo pjpeji spa[ce /asn£[tKe; Ma, °in the busiest part of the city. They jpass into an office, where they register their names. If they have money and wish to remiain in New Yorky-they-are given a card for, a lodging-house, and they are conducted to it by a policeman. There they can live at ; | a fixed price as long as 7 they;like. IL they wish to go south,, north i ; w west; on stating their destination they are pro-, vided, on payment, with a railroad ticket,, and they are not lost sight of until their train is .under way, , Thus all extortion is rendered impbssible. Those who are sick, and those who are withput means, are taken to an island situated; inthe bay of New York, where there is an hospitaL; and an asylum ; the sick are^ well tended until they recover, and tfie" poor remain until a situation has been found for them. I visited lately both the hospital and the asylum ; they are replete I with /e#er.y }dedent comfort, and the food is probably far superior to anything which the emigrants have been accustomed; to at home. As employment is easily foupd, few remain leng -in- the asylum. They are soon "located," when they are required to pay a trifling charge for their, keep on the island out of their first earnings. ? . . As Jane had spent her vas.t capital on the outwara vdyage, she went tot ihe asylum, and a day or two afterwards, was told to go to the hotel where I have had, the pleasure to make her acquaintance. . Here she was- engaged to wash up plates at 7dols a month, and her board and lodging. Jane found washing up platjes, although pleasant at first, somewhatmonotonous in .theilong"*ii^;e6ratr^he end of two years she sallied forth, to better herself. As she was a good seam--stress, she found employment in a large dry goods store, where she, worked fri>m • Bin the morning 1 until V S o'clock in the_ afternoon for Idol per diem. She livjecP during this phase of her existence |in what she calls a " home" — that is to say, a large building,. in,, which only single girls are admired; and where all the in-; mates are obliged to be in at 10 o'cloick in the evening, and where there is a certain supervision kept up over them,; Here, for 3dols a week, Jane had a bedroom and a right of way into a common parlor, in which there was, says' Jane, with batgd breath,' a" pianny.' r T)ie girls took their meais together, and thjey had for their 3dols— fancy it, ye London shirt-makers — an unlimited supply of tea, bread and butter, pudding, and meat. But, . sewing ; $d < not agree . Vrith Jane ; her eyes' got red and "seemed !to be achey-like," so she gave up the "pianny" and- independence, and came back to the hotel. She has been here ever since then. From washing up plates, ebe has r been promoted? to making beds ; and, as the rate of wages has risen, " she" receives now Bdol. a month, besides an occasional dollar from guests." Jane; X find, has saved no money ; she is, perhaps, a trifle dressy, b&t, [she: says, "at Borne " — she is a Catholic, so Borne is one of her few geographical facts — "one must ido like the Bomans." A dress costs her 27d01., a cloak about 20d01., a bonnet 4doL Herboots>:and she wears one pair every month, cost 2£dol. Six weeks ago Jane felt that it was incumbent on herito take a serious view of life, and that mar-' riage is woman's, mission, so T she^m^ntioned tt6 one -James id'Beijiy^aybuth whom she had known at home, and who had courted her for many a year, that sjhe was ready to take him for better or worse. James and she immediately went to the, church and were '"-married. "He is! a : plain man," the practical Jane confidedto me, " but handsome men make bad husbands, and he is in love with me quite aQsperite." " And do you love him,?"] I i asked. ' " Well, I'm kinder fond of him,"

replied the bride, blushing. Further inquiries elicited _ the information that James is employed at 12dol. a week by a " boss teamster "to drive a team. He lives in a lodging-house, where he pays for. his room and his board sdol. a week. Like Jane, he has not saved money, although he has been here several years. Part of his surplus funds have gone in dress, ' and part in liquor. On this latter head he has promised, " in the presence of a priest," reformation^ • As yet he [ has kepi his word-T-husbands often do during the' h honevtnoon — and has every week Jiaaded.aver.sdol, to_- Jase Ji __..Bhe retires next weeki from bedmaking, and ;the young couple have already engaged itwo rooms in a basement house, for which they are to pay 12dol. a m'ohth, and) are to furnish them partly with \ the ecohx)inie3' of jthe last six wejaks,. and .partly on. credit., ... Jane Slinks she 1 can keep Wase foy.6^dol. v a Week. Only ' one cloud has ; appeared on j her horjzp^ — a iclqud rarely , seen in -thej sky of an Irish peasant girl in the country of. her birthT James likes mutton, and cannot eat pork ; Jane on- the other hand, never having heard bf trichin®, adores pork^ but mutton, which she never tasted before, she "came to this country, " turns her stomach." I have suggested pork one day a,nd mutton the other. Jane agrees to this suggestion, but doubts about James, who is stubborn in the matter of •swine; As'sqpn as they have saved ;150 ,dol£ they intend- to go ".West;", a term which here answers to the ct Golden East" of fairytales,: and- Jane thinks that they iwjiildo. this: in two years, but this appears .doubtful, even. on- heLOW-n -calculations." James, she says, acquires one suit of 40 dolf two "suits at %& dol, six shirts at % dol teach, and three pair of .boots atc7dol.ejach v every year. ;i This ampunts to 143d01,, jand we must suppose- that he .dispenses. Vith hats, stockings, and pocketiiandkerchiefs. Jane, with $he strictest' ec6ribmy,~cannot .dress far less^than 50 dol. a year. Her j lodging will cost her 144 dol., and 'her I teus"ekie^ping~3l2tt^ol.~This~"ih' jdTamounts to 619 dol.,' and James only; earns each ! year 624d01. James, too, after the honeyI moon, will probably not deny himself an occasional glass, -and, besides, ••; there may be additions to the, family. How, then, -in two years, or in any number; of years, the l^Odol. are to be saved, I do jnot clearly see, but I need hardly add I h^ave not damped' Jane's bright dream ofjthe future by the array of inexorable figutes. The life of Jane has not been an eventful one ;'X relate it because } I think thai it gives an insight into the usual experiences of emigrants to this country 1 *: The cost of everything is so great; thatitis as difficult here for working people, men or women, to' put by money, except in! exceptional' cases, or when they are endowed with more than the ordinary amount of brains" and energy, as it is in Europe. All can be said is — and it is a great deal— they are better lodged, better fed, knd better clothed tbatrat home, and as long as ; they are ready to work they will always find work to- do* l - - \ ' J