seated woman. There is, of course, much work for women[7]--such as
ironing for instance--in which standing is generally considered
absolutely necessary. Salesmanship is not work of this character. It is
primarily custom that demands the constant standing seen in the stores;
and, until shoppers establish a habit of buying of shop-girls who are
seated, and the stores provide enough seats for all saleswomen and permit
them to sell when seated, the present system of undermining the normal
health of women clerks will continue unchecked.

The New York State law in regard to the work of the younger women
(minors)--in mercantile establishments is as follows:--

Hours of Labor of Minors[8]

No female employee between sixteen and twenty-one years of age
shall be required, permitted, or suffered to work in or in
connection with any mercantile establishment more than sixty
hours in any one week; or more than ten hours in any one day,
unless for the purpose of making a shorter work day of some one
day of the week; or before seven o'clock in the morning or
after ten o'clock in the evening of any day. _This section does
not apply to the employment of persons sixteen years of age or
upward, between the eighteenth day of December and the
following twenty-fourth day of December, both inclusive_.[9]

That is to say, that, for the holiday season, the time of all others when
it might seem wise and natural to protect the health of the younger women
working in the great metropolitan markets, for that season, of all
others, the State specifically provides that the strength of its youth is
to have no legal safeguard and may be subjected to labor without limit.