AMONG THE WORKERS

Evening Star, Issue 20253, 14 August 1929, Page 12

AMONG THE WORKERS

ENGLISH GIRL IN AMERICA I On her return from America, wliera * she worked incognito in a big departmental store, and then in a biscuit factory, Miss Nancy Samuel, daughter of Sir Herbert Samuel, had some interesting news for the English papers about her experiences. She is a tali, dark, vivacious girl, and helped her father to successfully contest the Darwin seat as the Liberal candidate. She spent five months in America, partly touring with a debating team and partly in her two “ jobs ” in New York. I had not previously thought at all of taking jobs out there, she said. I was not studying conditions, but merely did the work out of interest. The shop work I obtained through a letter of introduction, but none of my colleagues knew my identity. I was in the glass and chin:! department of a high-class store, i\nd found the girls there awfully nice. They were so good-tempered. And so were the customers. In fact. New York is a much better-tempered place than most cities. My horn's were 9 to 5.40, and there was plenty to do. I received a normal salary, and lived in much the same way as the other girls there. It is very difficult to .compare American and English shop girls, especially as I have never worked in a London shop, but my association with those girls was certainly a pleasant one. PSP AND PURCHASES. Miss Samuel smiled when asked if customers put “ pep” into their choice of purchases. No ladies ever choose things quickly, she replied. Some of them took hours and hours. Still, they are much more “quickly-living” than in this country, although not so desperately hustling as people allege. There is an air of cheerfulness there which, is a necessary part of prosperity. When discovery came through the publication of my identity I left—just in time to miss floods of reporters. As for the factory job—well, I just responded to a “ Hands Wanted ” appeal, and they engaged me. I was a packer, and here I had to make an early start—--8.15. We finished at 5.15, and. oh, how monotonous is packing biscuits all .day long! Yet what impressed me so much about those girls—unskilled workers—was their keen intelligence. Many had an intimate knowledge of 'two countries, for we were like, a “ League of Nations ” in little there. Some of the girls were Italian, some Scottish, some Irish, and many other nationalities were represented. We get on remarkably well together. The American factory girls were charming,' and seemed to enjoy life. As for being a shop assistant or a factory hand—well, I would not care to take either job for choice., It was an experience worth while, and T thought it would be a nity to leave America without seeing more of it than a tour cau shotvC 7 was five weeks at the stores and three and a-half weeks at the factory.