The ingenuity and
unyielding tenacity of our managers, foremen, and operatives had
introduced a thousand and one devices for making by machine
garments that used to be considered possible only as the product
of handwork. This--added to a vastly increased division of labor,
the invention, at our instance, of all sorts of machinery for the
manufacture of trimmings, and the enormous scale upon which
production was carried on by us--had the effect of cheapening the
better class of garments prodigiously. We had done away with
prohibitive prices and greatly improved the popular taste. Indeed,
the Russian Jew had made the average American girl a
"tailor-made" girl.
When I learned the trade a cloak made of the cheapest satinette
cost eighteen dollars. To-day nobody would wear it. One can now
buy a whole suit made of all-wool material and silk-lined for
fifteen dollars
What I have said of cloaks and suits applies also to skirts and
dresses, the production of which is a branch of our trade. It was
the Russian Jew who had introduced the factory-made gown,
constantly perfecting it and reducing the cost of its production.
Pages:
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706