MEN AND WOMEN.--According to the manager, there is a hard and fast line drawn by the various Societies in London as to what a woman may or may not do.
In _Bookbinding_ of all descriptions she is practically confined to folding and sewing. She may not touch a glue brush or do any putting of paper books or magazines into paper covers.
In the provinces, on the other hand, the rules of the Consolidated Societies are different. A woman may do flush binding (_i.e._, books whose covers are cut on a level with the leaves and which have no "turnings in") up and foolscap size, two quires. Hence women do diaries, etc. In certain works at Tonbridge women are set to do this.
_Litter-press Printing._--This firm had never tried female compositors. They had 100 men. If they tried to introduce women, all the men would go out and "you'd have a hornet's nest." The idea of paying women at the same rate as men struck them as ridiculous. "They would never be worth as much because they stay such a little time." They might some day try women compositors in their country establishment.
_Feeding Printing Machines._--They might not employ women on platen machines because of the Union, but were going to try them on smallish letter-press machines. The Union had no objection to that.
_Machine Ruling._--The firm only had little girls for feeding. The foreman remarked that at R.'s, "over the water," they had women to do most of their ruling, but did not seem to think that it would be worth while to train a woman for it. At first he said that the Men's Union would object, then said that he thought they would not; only he would have to give the woman the same pay as a man, "and fancy giving a woman 32_s._ a week!" This was uttered in a tone of supreme contempt. The manager remarked that he supposed it would not matter paying the woman the same if she did as much work, but the foreman smiled superior to the idea.
WOMEN AND MACHINERY.--The manager thought that the output of printed matter had increased so enormously since the introduction of machinery that more hands than ever were employed.
The forewoman of the folding and sewing department said that it seemed as if there must be fewer employed, and yet she had never turned any off.