CHAPTER IV. 
MANUFACTURING AND SELLING. 
MANUFACTURING CONDITIONS. 
A large proportion of the lingerie manufactured in the United 
States is made in New York City. Several reasons are given why the 
industry is centered there. The supply of the kind of labor that is 
needed is larger in New York than anywhere else, and therefore it 
is polls to operate more large factories in that city. 
he New York manufacturer has one great Jlraninn He can 
daily procure the materials needed for mmediate orders without 
being compelled to lay in a stock of goods. From sales agencies 
he can purchase the cloth that he needs, and it is delivered within 48 
hours. In the showrooms of wholesalers and importers of embroidery 
and lace he can select from a great variety of well-displayed sam- 
ples, and have his order filled the same day. Moreover, deliveries 
of cloth and trimmings are made to factories in New York City 
without expense for freight or cartage, an expense which factories 
in interior cities can not escape. 
New York City and vicinity afford the largest local market for 
underwear. Furthermore, more buyers from other cities come to 
New York than to any other place. They prefer to make purchases 
where they can select from the samples shown by many manufac- 
turers, and buyers for department or dry goods stores prefer to 
pra underwear where they can procure a complete line of all 
inds of goods sold in their stores. 
Manufacturers in the smaller cities have the advantages of ChompeD 
rent and labor. The force of workers is more apt to remain steadily 
with a factory in a smaller place than with one in a large city. In 
the large city they can find employment in many places, but in the 
town opportunities for employment are limited, and therefore the 
workers are practically compelled to remain with the factory in 
which they are employed. 
In New York City the workers in the needle trades are well i, 
ized, and there have been many strikes. Owing to labor troubles 
growing out of demands for higher wages there has been a tendency 
among New York underwear manufacturers to divide their plants, 
and locate branch factories in neighboring towns in Connecticut and 
New Jersey. In these towns the workers are not so strongly or- 
ganized, and lower wages are paid. 
The Cotton Garment Manufacturers of New York (Inc.) has a trade 
agreement with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union 
and the Underwear and White Goods Workers’ Union. 
Manufacturers in interior cities and towns who were interviewed 
admitted that their distance from the principal market for both 
buying and selling was a trade disadvantage, claimed that this 
drawback was overcome by the cheaper 4 that could be ob- 
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