clothing made in factories in New York City amounted to more than ten
times that made in any other city; the manufacture of women's ready-made
clothing in this country is, indeed, almost completely in the hands of
New York's immense Jewish population.[12]

As soon after her arrival as her age permitted, Natalya entered the
employment of a shirt-waist factory as an unskilled worker, at a salary
of $6 a week. Mounting the stairs of the waist factory, one is aware of
heavy vibrations. The roar and whir of the machines increase as the door
opens, and one sees in a long loft, which is usually fairly light and
clean, though sometimes neither, rows and rows of girls with heads bent
and eyes intent upon the flashing needles. They are all intensely
absorbed; for if they be paid by the piece, they hurry from ambition, and
if they be paid by the week, they are "speeded up" by the foreman to a
pace set by the swiftest workers.

In the Broadway establishment, which may be called the Bruch Shirt-waist
Factory, where Natalya worked, there were four hundred girls--six hundred
in the busy season. The hours were long--from eight till half past
twelve, a half hour for lunch, and then from one till half past six.

Sometimes the girls worked until half past eight, until nine. There were
only two elevators in the building, which contained other factories.
There were two thousand working people to be accommodated by these
elevators, all of whom began work at eight o'clock in the morning; so
that, even if Natalya reached the foot of the shaft at half past seven,
it was sometimes half past eight before she reached the shirt-waist
factory on the twelfth floor. She was docked for this inevitable
tardiness so often that frequently she had only five dollars a week
instead of six. This injustice, and the fact that sometimes the foreman
kept them waiting needlessly for several hours before telling them that
he had no work for them, was particularly wearing to the girls.

Natalya was a "trimmer" in the factory. She cut the threads of the waists
after they were finished--a task requiring very little skill. But the
work of shirt-waist workers is of many grades. The earnings of makers of
"imported" lingerie waists sometimes rise as high as $25 a week. Such a
wage, however, is very exceptional, and, even so, is less high than might
appear, on account of the seasonal character of the work.

The average skilled waist worker, when very busy, sometimes ear