WAYS OF LEARNING THE TRADE 
 
 
are dissimilar and require different treatment. The experience 
of the workers who acquired their trade as apprentices con- 
firms the opinion of the employers in favor of two seasons. 
Although the proportion of employers is somewhat larger, this 
doubtless is due to the inexact use of terms. Employers fre- 
quently consider a girl an apprentice who has begun to earn a 
small wage, but the worker may not so consider herself. In 
Boston, 46 out of 83 reporting, and in Philadelphia, 88 out of 
109 reporting, spent 2 seasons or longer in learning millinery. 
  A study of the wages received as learners by the 89 Boston 
workers who served apprenticeships as presented in Table 54 
shows that 81 per cent. (71) of them gave their time, the rest 
earning from $1 to $5 per week. In Philadelphia only 40 per 
cent. (45) of the workers who learned the trade as apprentices 
gave their time, the others often receiving as much as $4 a 
week If apprentices are paid at all, they are rarely paid less 
than $1 per week, which is supposed to cover carfare and 
lunches. The majority of girls who receive more than $1 or 
$1.50 per week were errand girls who were allowed to employ 
the time between errands in learning the trade. It is the con- 
sensus of opinion of both employers and employees that the 
method of learning millinery while doing errands, or the paid 
apprenticeship system, is less satisfactory than the method of 
"giving time." 
  Some idea of the extent of economic waste through the present 
millinery apprenticeship system may be found in the statements 
of employers. In both Boston and Philadelphia 57 employers 
gave estimates of the percentage of apprentices who were not 
successful. The majority in both- cities acknowledged that the 
greater number never became expert workers, only 4 firms in 
Boston and 3 in Philadelphia claiming that the beginners whom 
they had trained were universally successful. Only about a 
third in Boston and a fourth in Philadelphia estimated that 
more than half of their apprentices were successful. This 
economic waste may be accounted for in two ways. The appren- 
ticeship system tests the workers, and the majority of the girls 
who do not possess requisite ability drop out at this stage. 
Perhaps the chief reason is the impatience of the learner to 
 
 
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