Making Both Ends Meet: The Income and Outlay of New York Working Girls

by Sue Ainslie Clark, Edith Franklin Wyatt

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306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1911

Reviews

[KL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published in 1911, Making Both Ends Meet is a report on the income and outlay of New York working girls by the National Consumers League. A variety of league members interviewed women of various ages about their income and it was used for their cost of living. There is a score of stories in the work, and they cover all industries including laundry work, white goods work, shirtwaist making, cloak making, etc.

Readers see what lack of education and knowledge of budgeting did to these women who lived from hand to mouth. Additionally, not one age group is presented and immigrants from countries other than Russia and Italy are discussed. For each individual discussed, a list of their weekly, and sometimes yearly, expenditures is given. When necessary, the labor law of New York are presented and then explained. Their presence was helpful in understanding how shop owners were able to navigate around the law. Each chapter ends by asking questions that will be answered in the next chapter. This way, readers stay engaged and want to continue reading.

The last chapter of the book explains what Scientific Management is and how its implementation helps solve the problems of hours, wages, piece work, etc. in factories. The process eliminates wasted human energy, equipment, and machine power. Its goal is to find the best method that takes the least amount of time to get work finished, and it achieves this my giving workers rest time throughout the day. The section thoroughly describes different studies involving Scientific Management, but I found the chapter would have been better off if the author had chosen to succinctly explain what the method was and how it could further be applied to women workers.