Full text of Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor, Nos. 1 - 100 : May 1896 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor, No. 4, Volume I

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

54th Congress, ) HOUSE OF EEPEESEUTATIVES. ( Doc.Uo.33,

1st Session.

f

\

Part 4.

BULLETIN
OF T H E

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
NO. 4 - M A Y , 1896.
ISSUED EVERY OTHER MONTH.

E D IT E D B Y

CARROLL D. WRIGHT,
COMMISSIONER.

OREN W . W EAVER,
CHIEF CLERK.

WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.




18 9 6.




CONTENTS.
Page.

Industrial communities, by W . F. Willoughby, of the Department of Labor.
The sweating system, by Henry White, general secretary, United Garment
WTorkers of Am erica.......................................................................................................
Digest of recent reports of State bureaus of labor statistics:
Massachusetts...............................................................................................................
Missouri..................................................
U ta h .................................................................................................................................
Second annual report on the building and loan associations of California...
Annual report on the cooperative savings and loan associations of New York.
Decennial census of Kansas for 1895.............................................................................
Digest of recent foreign statistical publications......................
Annual statistical abstracts....................................................
Decisions of courts affecting la b o r ...............................................................................




in

335-359
360-379
380-386
386-388
388, 389
390-392
393, 394
395
396-416
417-424
425-442




BULLETIN
OF THE

D E P A R T M E N T OE L A B O R .
No. 4.

WASHINGTON.

Ma y , 1896.

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.(a)
B Y W . F. W IL LO U G H B Y.

CHAPTER III.
COAL MINING COMPANY OF BLANZY, FRANCE.
The consideration of the Coal Mining Company of Blanzy will be
somewhat briefer than that of Anzin. The company of Anzin, as has
been stated, was selected for investigation not because it represented
a peculiar type of the organization of an industry, but, quite the reverse,
because it was typical of the conditions under which one of the most
important industries is carried on. Its prominence and age, it being
by far the largest coal mining company of France, and one whose his­
tory is contemporary with the history of coal mining in that country,
were the particular reasons for giving it the preference over other com­
panies. In its consideration, all the conditions influencing the welfare
of the workingmen have been considered in the greatest possible de­
tail. It will be unnecessary to enter into the same amount of detail in
the case of the mining center now to be described, for the conditions
in the latter are quite similar to those existing at Anzin. The chief
value of the consideration of the Blanzy company lies in the opportu­
nity offered for the study of other forms of workingmen’s institutions,
and in the fact that it supplements the description of Anzin and empha­
sizes the fact that the description there given of conditions and insti­
tutions is not that of an exceptional coal mine, but of all of the most
important coal mining companies of France.
In this report an especial interest attaches to the experiences of the
company of Blanzy. The company at first attempted the system of
pure patronage, where everything was done directly by the company.
a See footnote to the beginning of this series of articles in Bulletin No. 3.




335

336

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The far from satisfactory results of its efforts led to a complete change
and the adoption of a more liberal system. The testimony of a com­
pany of such importance as that of Blanzy on this vital point of the
policy to be pursued in the organization of workingmen’s institutions is
deserving of serious attention. The company describes, in a brochure
published by it in 1894, on its workingmen’s institutions, the results
of its efforts under the two policies pursued. The following is a con­
densed translation:
From its very foundation the Goal Mining Company of Blanzy has
appreciated the peculiar duties that it owes toward its employees. It
has always been among those who thought that the duties of an em­
ployer toward his employees did not cease with the payment of their
wages, but that there were social and moral duties as well that should
be regarded. The company, therefore, as early as 1834, commenced
the creation of institutions for the welfare of its employees that have
since developed until their maintenance requires an expenditure of
over 1,000,000 francs ($193,000) annually. These “ company institu­
tions,” however, while rendering important service, have not given
results proportionate to the sacrifices made by the company. Bene­
fits obtained without efforts are rarely appreciated. Favors soon get
to be considered as rights, and selfish interests are thought to have
dictated their granting. Worse still, the workingman ceases to depend
upon himself; he loses the habit of foresight and economy; individual
initiative is lost; self-dignity is lessened. These results, which are the
consequences of a patronage too highly developed, commenced to be
felt a few years ago by the company of Blanzy.
A t the same time, by a natural reaction, the spirit of association was
awakened among the employees. Cooperative stores, mutual aid and
kindred societies developed rapidly throughout the country. The new
movement denoted a certain spirit and the presence of aspirations which
the company of Blanzy could not afford to disregard. It appreciated
the situation, and, while preserving its institutions that had a real
raison d’etre, resolved to take advantage of the new spirit. It took as
its principle that the employer should make use of associations of
employees wherever possible. With this system the company is no
longer solely responsible for the welfare of its employees. Associations,
also, when well directed, contribute powerfully to the maintenance of
social peace.
W e can not but felicitate ourselves upon the results of our new policy.
The interest of the workingmen has exceeded our expectations. Associ­
ations are increasing in number and importance, and the day can be
anticipated when they will replace all the institutions now controlled
by the company, or, at least, so modify them that the workingmen will
share with the company in their management.
The coal basin of Blanzy is situated in the central portion of the
department of Sadne-et-Loire, and next to the coal basin in the north is
the most important coal deposit of France. Authority was first given
to mine coal here in 1769, under the title of Concession of Montcenis.
In 1832 the concession was divided into two parts, named respectively
Concession of Blanzy and Concession of Creusot. During these years
coal was mined by various companies, among which a constant organ­
ization and reorganization was taking place. The present Blanzy




INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

337

Coal Mining Company was organized in 1831, but has since undergone
several modifications. The actual capital of the company is now
15,000,000 francs ($2,895,000), and the property covered by its conces­
sions embraces 21,660 hectares (53,522 acres). Though the company
still bears the name of Blanzy, the place where coal was first mined,
and from which its concession is named, the real seat of its operations,
is at Montceau-les-Mines.
Montceau, though not a company’s town m the sense of being spe­
cially created by the company, is so entirely dominated by and depend­
ent upon that company that it possesses all the characteristics of a
special industrial village. Before the commencement of mining opera­
tions Montceau was represented on the maps as a farm. In 1834, when
the present company commenced its operations, the commune of Mont­
ceau numbered but 315 inhabitants. In 1856 this number had increased
to 1,300, in which year it was incorporated as a separate village. In
1861 the number of inhabitants was 3,337; in 1866,5,548; in 1872,8,287;
and in 1876, 11,010. Its present population, according to the latest
official census, is 19,612. In the meantime Montceau has become,
chiefly through the efforts of the company, a substantially built town.
The new village had in the beginning no resources, no property, and
no municipal buildings. During a good many years the company sup­
plied everything. It rectified and improved the most important roads
and constructed bridges and aqueducts. It laid out, most of them on
its own land, the streets and squares of the new town. It built and
furnished entirely at its own expense several very pretty churches.
When there was a question of erecting a town hall, it contributed
60.000 frances ($11,580) to the building fund and donated the ground
upon which it was erected. It supported the whole expense of build­
ing the new gendarmerie—in the opinion of the state inspectors one of
the finest in France—at a cost of between 300,000 ($57,900) and 400,000
francs ($77,200). For a long time it paid the salaries of the officials of
the municipal board and provided the necessary buildings for their
accommodation. The great efforts made by the company to provide
educational facilities to all the inhabitants will be described in another
place.
The development of the company itself is best shown by the amount
of coal mined from year to year and the total number of its employees.
The yearly production, which from 1833 to 1850 had never exceeded
150.000 tons (u), reached 300,000 tons in 1860, 400,000 in 1870, 700,000 in
1880, 881,218 iu 1887, 1,107,523 in 1892, and 1,105,317 in 1893.
As in the case of the other more important colliery companies of
France, the production of coal represents but a part of the activities of
the company. Ovens for the manufacture of coke have been installed,
factories for the manufacture of bricks of coal dust are operated, and a
glass factory is also operated by the company, though its management




a French ton equals 2,204.6 pounds.

338

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

and accounts are kept entirely independent of the company’s mining
operations. The number of workingmen employed has followed the
increasing production. The total number of employees in 1883 was
5,321; in 1890 the number had increased to 7,011, and in 1893 to 7,834.
THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF LABOR.

The system of recruitment of employees is similar to that at Anzin.
The underground workingmen are taken from among the surface work­
ers, and the latter from among the children of employees who have
just left the company’s schools. Strangers are occasionally hired as
surface workingmen, but very rarely as pitmen. Women have never
been allowed to work below ground. Young girls and unmarried
women in good health were, until late years, employed in great num­
bers in the operation of sifting and sorting coal. In consequence, how­
ever, of the improvements made in the methods of sorting and sifting
coal, by which mechanical contrivances are made to take the place of
manual labor, the number of girls thus employed has greatly dimin­
ished in recent years. Married women, with rare exceptions, are never
employed by the company. Coal mining affords opportunities for the
employment of workingmen of all ages. The following table shows
the number of employees of the company December, 1892, classified
according to their ages:
A G E OF E M P L O Y E E S O F T H E C O A L M I N I N G C O M P A N Y O F B L A N Z Y , D E C E M B E R , 1892.
Employees.
A g e s.

13 or
18 or
23 or
28 or
33 or
38 or
43 or

Employees.
A g e s.

Below
ground.

A bove
ground.

Total.

644
934
819
726
487
344
238

734
364
447
403
297
188
262

1,378
1,298
1,266
1,129
784
532
500

under 18 years.
under 23 years.
under 28 years.
under 33 years.
under 38 years.
under 43 years.
under 48 years.

48
53
58
63
68

Below
ground.

Above
ground.

or under 53 years .
or under 58 years .
or under 63 years .
or under 68 years .
years or o v e r .........

182
125
116
56
40

126
24
41
52
21

308
149
157
108
61

T o ta l.....................

4, 711

2, 959

7, 670

Total.

The hours of labor for workingmen employed below ground are nine
per day, including the time for the descent and return, which requires,
on an average, one hour. Deducting, therefore, an interruption for
luncheon, there remains less than eight full hours’ actual labor. The
pitmen work from 4 a. m. to 1 p. m., after which the necessary repairs
and blasting are done. On the surface the length of a day’s work
varies somewhat, according to the time of year. As a rule, work begins
at 6 a. m. and ends at 6 p.m., with an hour and a half’s rest at midday.
No work of any kind is done on Sundays.
In the operation of mining proper the fixing of wages is according to
the system of small contracts, according to which from two to six work­
ingmen are associated together and undertake to work a certain gallery,
and are paid so much per yard or ton mined. The rate paid, of course,
varies according to the difficulty of cutting coal. These workingmen




339

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

are called “ jobbers,” and they hire at their own expense one or two
assistant hands. This class of labor, as a rule, is settled for by the
month. As regards surface work, employees are paid either by the day
or by the job, according to circumstances. As* explained in the case of
the company of Anzin, only average wages for a series of years can be
given. This the following table gives for the years 1872-73 to 181)1-92:
AVERAGE

D A IL Y

W AGES

OF E M P L O Y E E S O F T H E C O A L M IN IN G
B L A N Z Y , 1872-73 TO 1891-92.

Average daily wages of—

Average daily wages of—

Year.

1872- 73
1873- 74.
1874- 75.
1875- 76
1876- 77.
1877- 78.
1878- 79.
1879- 80.
1880- 81.
1881-82.

Employees
at pits,
Other
A ll
belcw and
employees. employees.
above
ground.
$0. 58
.59
.59
.60
.61
.63
.63
.65
.67
.69

$0.57
.60
.58
.60
.62
.59
.59
.60
.60
.62

$0. 58
.60
.58
.60
.61
.61
.61
.62
.64
.66

C O M P A N Y OF

Year.

1882-83..........
1883-84..........
1884-85..........
1885-86..........
1886-87..........
1887-88..........
1888-89..........
1889-90..........
1890-91..........
1891-92..........

Employees
at pits,
A ll
Other
below and
employees. employees.
above
ground.
$0.72
.74
.72
.73
.76
. 78.
.78
.79
.80
.80

$0.63
.63
.63
.63
.63
.64
.64
.67
.69
.71

$0.68
.68
.68
.68
.70
.71
.71
.75
.77
.79

WORKINGMEN’S INSTITUTIONS.

The social work undertaken by the company of Blanzy, and by the
employees themselves, at Montceau follows along the same general lines
as that at Anzin. As at the latter place, the main efforts of the company
take the form of the provision of houses and of facilities for working­
men to become house owners, the organization of pension funds, the
maintenance of schools, etc. 5and those of the employees, the organiza­
tion of a mutual aid society, in which, however, the company largely
participates, and other societies. There are, of course, important points
of difference. The policy of the company of Blanzy in encouraging
house ownership has been particularly liberal and has met with remark­
ably successful results. The company, again, has done a very useful
work in its efforts to provide employment for miners’ wives and daugh­
ters, maintaining for that purpose workshops, in connection with its
schools, for the making of articles of wearing apparel, and a completely
equipped silk-weaving mill for the older women. On the other hand,
its system of old-age pensions, whereby the workingmen are not per­
mitted to contribute in any way to the maintenance of the fund, is one
that does not so readily commend itself as that practiced at Anzin.
Among institutions organized by the workingmen themselves, the
society called La Prudence, which the workingmen have organized for
the management of their business affairs, serves a useful purpose, while,
on the other hand, the province of distributive cooperation seems to be
practically neglected, though the field is apparently one offering every
opportunity for its successful introduction.




340

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
THE HOUSINGS OF EM PLO YEES.

The situation of the mines of Blanzy, located, as they are, in a purely
agricultural community, of necessity demanded that the first efforts of
the company should be directed toward the provision of dwellings for
their employees. The work of the Blanzy company in this direction
deserves especial attention, both on account of the extent of its opera­
tions and because of the liberal policy that it has pursued in regard to
house ownership.
M. Simonin, a mining engineer, writing concerning workingmen’s
institutions at Montceau, after a visit in 1867, says:
The question of lodgings for its employees has almost from the begin­
ning been an object of solicitude to the Blanzy Coal Mining Company.
In 1834 it established dwellings for workingmen; but having soon dis­
covered all the drawbacks that the old system of barrack dwellings has
as regards tranquillity, hygiene, and morals, especially for miners who
relieve each other by turns, it adopted for the future the system of sep­
arate houses, each surrounded by a garden. Each house includes two
tenements, having each two rooms on the ground floor, a loft and a cellar,
and a pigsty attached. In front of the house there is a yard, and at
the back a garden, the whole well fenced in. The yard opens on the
street, which is broad and well kept. * # * The garden covers
an area of from 400 to 500 square meters (4,306 to 5,382 square feet).
The workingman raises vegetables for his table and flowers to adorn
his home. A garden is absolutely necessary to the coal miner, who is
connected by his birthplace and by the nature of his work with the agri­
cultural population. * # # The village looks cheerful; the isolated
houses, with their roofs of red tile, produce a picturesque effect.
Since the time that M. Simonin wrote the above important changes,
all in the nature of improvements, have been made. The style of cot­
tage described by that author has now been completely abandoned. A
new and more graceful model was adopted in 1867. It comprises three,
and in some cases four rooms. The gardens have also been enlarged, heir
average area being now about 700 square meters (7,535 square feet).
Instead of grouping the houses all together in one place, they have
been erected in separate groups, and in many cases scattered about
the country as isolated dwellings, but in close proximity to the mines.
The following table, prepared by the company for this report, shows
the condition of affairs in 1894 as regards the direct provision of houses
by the company:
N U M B E R A N D COST OF H O U S E S E R E C T E D F O R E M P L O Y E E S B Y T H E C O A L M I N I N G
C O M P A N Y OF B L A N Z Y , 1894.
C ost.
G r o u p s o f h o u ses.

T ene­
D a te s o f ere<J
H o u se s.
tion .
m e n ts.

A l o u e t t e s .........................
M a e n v ................................
B e l - A i r ................................
B o is -d u -V era e ................
O th e r h o u s e s ..................
T o t a l.......................




1844-1859
1859-1876
1859-1876
1859-1876

Land.

C on stru c­
tion .

T o ta l.

Annual
lo s s o f i n ­
te r e st.

99
96
74
101
120

220
209
129
220
386

$6,635.22
3,164. 28
6, 525.21
5, 804.78
44,060. 04

$68,680.53
92, 923.57
70,948.77
88, 047.82
149, 972.35

$75,315.75
96, 087.85
77, 473. 98
93,852.60
194, 032. 39

$3,012.64
3,843.52
3,098.95
3, 754.10
7, 761. 29

490

1,164

66,189.53

470, 573. 04

536, 762. 57

21,470.50

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

341

The picturesque aspect of Montceau, so aptly described by M. Simonin,
has, as a matter of course, improved. Well-kept carriage roads run
through the workingmen’s quarters,* trees and plants of all kinds have
sprung up, and the green of their foliage makes a pleasant contrast with
the red tiled roofs. Here and there a cottage somewhat larger than the
rest and inhabited by a boss miner, gang leader or checker, or some
other employee of the company breaks the monotony. In the center the
schools and a chapel of Romanesque style give to the various groups a
pleasing aspect peculiar to the small towns of Burgundy.
No attempt has been made by the company to obtain a commercial
return on its investment in lodgings. While an ordinary workingman’s
house rents for about 12 francs ($2.32) per month in the neighboring
villages, the average rent charged by the company of Blanzy is from
4.50 to 6 francs ($0.87 to $1.16). Thirty-nine cottages are let at 2.50
francs (48 cents), 7 at 3 francs (58 cents), 534 at 4.50 francs (87 cents),
13 at 5 francs (97 cents), 149 at 6 francs ($1.16), 4 at 9 francs ($1.74),
and the others under various special arrangements.
The direct provision of houses by the company, such as has been
described above, forms, however, the least interesting part of its efforts
for the housing of its employees. Much greater interest attaches to
the means that it has adopted for encouraging the workingmen to
become the owners of their own homes. To do this, the first step taken
by the company was to acquire several tracts of ground adjoining its
mines. These it subdivided into lots of from 20 to 25 ares (21,528 to
26,910 square feet) in size, after having laid out the streets of a village.
These lots it placed at the disposition of its miners at their cost price,
which is only one-fifth or one-tenth as much as they would have to pay
elsewhere in the neighborhood. Any miner could ask for the conces­
sion of a lot, and if his request was granted an advance of 1,000 francs
($193) with which to build was at the same time made to him, the whole
being repayable in ten annual installments.
That the workingmen have appreciated the advantages offered to
them is shown by the following figures: In 1888 the total number of
workingmen having received concessions of ground was 316, and the
area of ground sold to them was 77.7393 hectares (192 acres), at an aver­
age value of 2,629.14 francs ($507.42) per hectare. To enable them to
build there had been advanced to 303 of their number 235,492 francs
($45,449.96), an average of 777.20 francs ($150) each. In 1893, five years
later, these figures had risen to 400 for the total number of workingmen
having received concessions and to 88.9936 hectares (220 acres) for the
area of ground sold, at an average value of 2,721.95 francs ($525.34) per
hectare, and 242,019 francs ($46,709.67) had been advanced to 387
workingmen, or an average of about 625 francs ($120.63) each.
The system by which land was provided and money advanced to
workingmen with which to build was adopted in 1857. To supplement
this the company, by regulations dated May 2,1874, offered to advance
money, with which to build, to workingmen who were either the owners



342

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

of land elsewhere or for any reason desired to build on land other than
that offered by the company. Including those who took advantage of
these later regulations the total number of workingmen having received
advances in 1893 was 540, and the total amount of the advances 469,792
francs ($90,669.86).
The system of grants of land and advances of money under the two
regulations that have just been described developed, however, several
serious drawbacks. Many of the workingmen, when they undertook
to build, were in possession of totally inadequate means for that pur­
pose, and the advances of the company did not suffice to pay all the
building expenses. The workingmen were, nevertheless, so desirous of
availing themselves of the advantages offered that they would borrow
elsewhere relatively large sums, sometimes at high rates of interest,
and, as a result, they would be kept a long time under the burden of a
heavy debt. The houses, likewise, were occasionally of a totally unsuit­
able character. The greatest hardship, however, was occasioned in
those cases where death intervened before either the company or other
creditors had been repaid their advances. The property, in conse­
quence, would be sold or otherwise disposed of under unfavorable cir­
cumstances ; lawyers7fees would often have to be paid, and the fami­
lies would be left in great distress. It was desirable, therefore, to
devise some means by which these disadvantages could be obviated.
A s a result important modifications were made in 1893 in the regula­
tions of 1874. Henceforth the amount of the advance allowed to
workingmen with a view to building was not limited to 1,000 francs
($193), but, if need be, could equal the total value of the house to be
built, without, however, exceeding the sum of 2,500 francs ($482.50).
The maximum delay for the repayment of the advance was at the same
time extended to fifteen years. The essential innovation, however, was
that by which the prospective builder was required to contract a mixed
or tontine life insurance policy to the amount of his advance.
The premiums paid on this policy, therefore, take the place of the
annual installments formerly paid to the company. The borrowing
workingman pays, or rather agrees that there shall be deducted from
his wages, during the time indicated in his policy, first, the amount of
his insurance premiums, and, second, interest at 3 per cent on the sum
that has been advanced to him. A t the date fixed upon, or at the death
of the workingman, if his death takes place before the expiration of the
term, the insurance money serves to repay the amount advanced and a
complete title to the property is secured.
A most important feature of the new regulations is that whereby the
administration of the whole system of advances is turned over to La
Prudence, a society that the laborers and officials of the company have
organized to take charge of their business interests, and of which a
description is given in another place. The workingman who wishes to
build addresses himself to La Prudence instead of to the company.




INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

343

This society, after making an investigation, allows the advance. The
policy of insurance is taken out in favor of the society, and it advances
the money necessary for building. On this, as has already been stated,
it receives interest at the rate of 3 per cent. In order to stimulate the
society to encourage the acquiring of homes the company pays to it
annually 45 francs ($8.69) during fifteen years for every house built by
a workingman under these auspices.
The granting of these encouragements and aid by the company has
been productive of remarkably successful results. A number of impor­
tant individual settlements have grown up that have an appearance
quite different from that of a regular workingmen’s village. In 1889
there were 1,079 workingmen who were owners of the houses that they
occupied and of the surrounding ground. In 1892 this number had
increased to 1,306, or over 25 per cent of the total number of working­
men who were heads of families. But the new regulations have suc­
ceeded in a yet more remarkable degree. In the year succeeding the
date of their application, April 15,1893,113 workingmen took out insur­
ance policies and commenced the acquisition of homes, representing a
total amount borrowed of 266,456 francs ($51,426.01). The popularity
of the new system is very natural if one takes into consideration that
in this way a workingman can become the owner of a house of the
value of about 2,500 francs ($482.50) in fifteen years while making an
annual payment of little if any in excess of an ordinary rent. The
figures given above concerning house ownership represent, moreover,
only those workingmen who have become house owners by profiting
by the advantages offered by the company. As to those who have
bought with their own savings or have acquired homes in any other
way, they are not represented in the total as given, though their num­
ber is believed to be an important one.
OLD-AGrE PENSIONS.

Next to the matter of housing, that of the care of their old employees
has been and must continue to be the subject of the greatest solicitude
on the part of the large employers of labor in Europe. The company
of Blanzy had the honor to be the first mining company to establish at
its own expense a fund for the pensioning of its workingmen in their
old age. Its creation dates from January 25,1854. Until 1882, how­
ever, the benefits of the fund were limited to employees working below
ground. As constituted during this period, provision was made for
pensions of from 180 to 240 francs ($34.74 to $46.32) a year to unmar­
ried and of from 240 to 300 francs ($46.32 to $57.90) to married work­
ingmen when they had reached a certain age and had worked a certain
number of years for the company, half of the pension to be continued to
the wife on the death of the pensioner. In 1881 the company determined
to modify its regulations so that, dating from January 1,1882, all of its
employees, in whatever capacity they were employed, should participate




344

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

in the benefits of the insurance fund. A t the same time the amount of
the pension granted was considerably increased.
In pursuance of these regulations the company established the fol­
lowing schedule of pensions:
S C H E D U L E OE A N N U A L P E N S IO N S P A I D TO W O R K I N G M E N B Y T H E C O A L M I N I N G
C O M P A N Y OE B L A N Z Y .
A n nu al pensions paid to workingmen after—

Occupations.

M aster miners, or head fo rem en ...............
Gang leaders, foremen, underground
checkers, and masters of t u g s ...............
Underground
workingmen,
under­
ground mechanics, w harf and surface
checkers, and yard foremen.....................
Blacksmiths, fitters, modelers, carpen­
ters, wheelwrights, engineers, e tc ........
Surface workmen working in yards,
w harf laborers, navvies, and railway
hands.................................................................
W idow s, women, and girls whose names
are on the pay r o lls .....................................

55 years
of age
and 30
years of
service.

56 years
o f age
and 31
years of
service.

57 years
o f age
and 32
years of
service.

58 years
o f age
and 33
years of
service.

59 years
of* age
and 34
years of
service.

$130.28

$138.96

$147.65

$156.33

$165.02

$173.70

101.33

108. 08

114. 84

121. 59

128. 35

135.10

86.85

92.64

98.43

104.22

110.01

115.80

57.90

61.76

65.62

69.48

73.34

77.20

46.32

49.41

52.50

55.58

58. 67

61. 76

34.74

37.06

39.37

41. 69

44. 00

46. 32

60 years
o f age
and 35
years of
service.

As the pensions are purely in the nature of a grant on the part of
the company, there is no special account of receipts and expenditures
of a fund. The results are shown only by a statement of the number
of pensioners from year to year and the total and average amount of
the pensions. This is done for the ten years from 1884-85 to 1893-94
in the table that follows:
E X P E N D I T U R E S F O R P E N S IO N S B Y T H E W O R K I N G M E N ’ S P E N S IO N F U N D
B L A N Z Y , 1884-85 TO 1893-94.

Y ear.

1884-85.....................
1885-86.....................
1886-87....................
1887-88....................
1888-89.....................

Pen­
sioners.

Total
pensions.

Average
pension.

216
242
249
263
280

$14, 531. 93
16,480. 25
17,418.19
17, 764. 87
18, 213. 75

$67.28
68.10
69.95
67. 55
65. 05

Year.

1889-90...................
1890-91..................
1891-92...................
1892-93..................
1893-94..................

Pen­
sioners.

Total
pensions.

308
327
360
393
410

$19, 606.18
20, 604. 72
21, 715.83
24, 368. 71
25, 970. 54

AT

Average
pension.
$63. 66
63. 01
60. 32
62. 01
63.34

The enactment of the law of 1894, regarding the insurance of miners,
has necessitated the reorganization of this system of old-age pensions
to some extent. The essential provisions of the law have been stated
in the preceding chapter, and need not be repeated here. At Anzin
practically no reorganization of system was required. A t Blanzy, how­
ever, there was necessitated the fundamental change from a company
supported fund to a regular insurance institution, in both the conduct
and support of which the workingmen would participate.
In thus making provision for the pensioning of old employees, the
company seems to have pursued its accustomed liberal policy as far as
the voluntary subjection of itself to pecuniary sacrifices is concerned;
but it has by no means kept in line with the general trend of the mod­
ern movement for the insurance of workingmen, regardingthe manner



345

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

in which the pensions are accorded. There is almost a consensus of
opinion that the best system of free insurance is that whereby the work­
ingmen are required to contribute to an equal extent if possible with
the employers in the constitution of an insurance fund. They are at
the same time allowed to participate in the management of the fund;
and the pension is one that when acquired the recipient accepts with a
feeling that he is receiving not a bounty but rather a return for his
years of sacrifice and economy.
In determining this question much depends on the character of the
workingmen in each locality, but it is difficult to believe that working­
men who could to so large an extent become house owners are not in a
position to participate actively in the constitution and management of
an insurance fund as is done by their brother miners in the north. It
is more than ever difficult to understand, as these principles have been
exactly carried out in the insurance fund for the higher grades of
employees of the company.
In 1880 the company organized a second pension fund for the benefit
of its engineers, physicians, and office employees. In this case, how­
ever, the expense is not entirely borne by the company. The receipts
of the fund consist of an annual payment by each member of a sum
equal to
per cent of the total amount he has received in wages, a
subsidy by the company of an equivalent amount, and miscellaneous
receipts, such as interest on funds invested, fines, etc. A member may
retire and receive a pension after he is 55 years of age and has been
employed twenty-five years. The value of the pension equals one-half
the average annual salary that the pensioner has earned during the
last five years of his employment, and is increased by one-fifteenth for
each additional year of service if he remains in the employ of the com­
pany longer than twenty-five years before retiring, but this pension
shall not exceed two-thirds of the average annual salary based upon
the last five years of service. The minimum and maximum pensions
are 1,200 francs ($231.60) and 9,000 francs ($1,737), respectively, per an­
num. In case of death the pension to half the amount is continued to
the widow.
The following table gives the results of the operation of this fund
during the ten years 1884-85 to 1893-94:
F IN A N C IA L

O P E R A T IO N S OF T H E P E N S IO N F U N D FO R H I G H E R
B L A N Z Y , 1884-85 TO 1893-94.

Year.

Total
receipts.

1884 85...........................................
1885-86...........................................
1886-87...........................................
1887-88...........................................
1888-89...........................................
1889-90...........................................
1890-91...........................................
1891-92...........................................
1892-93...........................................
1893-94...........................................

$4, 247. 75
4, 361. 71
4,628. 39
5, 792. 28
6,914.48
7,132. 44
11, 606. 75
12, 376. 03
8,968. 32
9, 340. 87




Total
expenditures
for pensions.
$616.57
820. 49
2,466. 37
2, 874. 35
2, 673. 89
3,978. 42
4,114. 36
4,477. 91
4,073. 67
3, 904. 74

Surplus.

$3, 631.18
3,541. 22
2,162. 02
2, 917. 93
4,240. 59
3,154. 02
7,492. 39
7, 898.12
4, 894. 65
5,436.13

Capital at
end of year.

$26,129.62
29, 670. 84
31,832. 87
34, 750. 80
38, 991. 39
42,145.42
49, 637. 81
57, 535.93
62, 430. 58
67,866. 72

EM PLOYEES A T

Pension­ Average
ers.
pension.

7
8
13
14
16
18
19
19
18
19

$88. 08
102. 56
189. 72
205. 31
167.12
221. 02
216. 55
235.68
226.32
205. 51

346

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

M UTUAL AID SOCIETY.

A provident and relief fund was the first institution created by the
company for the benefit of its employees. It was organized in 1834.
Its constitution has been repeatedly modified, notably in 1854, 1865,
1868, and 1875. Its present constitution dates from the year 1885. By
it there is organized a regularly incorporated society under the title of
Societe de Secours Mutuels des Employes et Ouvriers des mines de
Houille de Blanzy.
In its organization the company has given to it a character that dif­
ferentiates it widely from the ordinary mutual aid society of France.
The company has made it the instrumentality for the administration of
all its various forms of aid and relief, not only such as the granting of
relief to sick and injured workingmen, but the provision of educational
facilities, the administration of the medical service, and the granting
of direct pecuniary aid to widows and orphans.
The society is therefore a mutual aid society in that the employees
contribute by the payment of dues to the constitution of a relief fund;
and at the same time a company’s aid fund, as a number of the branches
of aid are declared by the constitution to be entirely at the charge of
the company.
The policy of thus giving its aid through an independent and mutual
aid society has been productive of very beneficial results.
The constitution of this society sets forth in the most detailed way
the objects of the society, the amount of relief and the conditions
under which it is granted, and the organization and administration
of the society. These provisions can here be given in only the most
summary way.
The objects of the society are stated to be: The assistance of employ­
ees of the company in cases of accidents and sickness, through the
granting of free medical attendance and medical supplies, and the pay­
ment of cash benefits to such sufferers during the time that they are
unable to work; the providing for old and incapacitated workingmen,
the aiding of the widows, children, and parents of workingmen killed
during the progress of the work of mining, or wholly or partially dis­
abled; the provision free of cost of text-books and stationery to chil­
dren of workingmen attending the elementary schools maintained by
the company, and the relief of workingmen and their families in vari­
ous ways in cases of need and distress.
The membership of the society consists of all employees of the com­
pany, whatever their age or sex.
The receipts of the society are derived from dues of members, subsi­
dies granted by the company, and miscellaneous sources, such as fines,
interest on the permanent fund, and gifts. The members are divided
into two classes, viz, engineers and office employees and workingmen
proper. The dues of members of the first class consist of a sum




347

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

equal to 1 per cent, and those of the second class of a sum equal to 2J
per cent of the amount of their wages. The subsidies of the company
must equal the total sum paid in as dues by the second class. In
addition to this subsidy, the company obligates itself to maintain, at its
own expense, infant schools for the children and primary schools in
connection with workshops, where all the children of employees will be
received gratuitously 5 to provide the necessary ground and buildings
and to keep in repair a hospital for workingmen injured by accidents,
and in certain cases for those suffering from serious illness, a phar­
macy with laboratory and pharmaceutic stock, a sufficient number of
consultation rooms for physicians, and also the payment of the sala­
ries of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, etc.
The first great category of relief granted by the society is that to
members when sick. In general all members have a right to receive
medical attendance and medicines gratuitously after they have been
enrolled one month. The wives and children of members who have
been enrolled two months are likewise entitled to similar aid.
The second class of assistance afforded by the society is that of cash
benefits to members during the time they are incapacitated for work as
the result of sickness or accident. The constitution contains elaborate
regulations and schedules, showing when such benefits are due and the
standards according to which their amounts are determined. These
schedules are shown in the following table:
SCHEDULE

OF B E N E F IT S FO R SIC K N E S S A N D A C C ID E N T P A I D
T H E M U T U A L A I D S O C IE T Y A T B L A N Z Y .

TO M E M B E R S OF

D aily benefit for—
Beneficiaries.

W orkingm an, unmarried or widower, 17 years of age or over.........
Workingman, married, living w ith his w ife........ ....................................
Each legitimate child under 13 years o f age, as supplement to
parents’ indem nity____ _____ - ......................................................................
W ife , widow, or girl 17 years of age or over employed by company.
Child 13 to 17 years o f age employed by company........................ ....

Injury or sick­
ness resulting
from work.

Ordinary sick­
ness lasting more
than seven days.

$0.24 to $0.34
. 29 to
. 34

$0.14 to $0.19
. 19 to
. 24

. 06 to
. 14 to

. 07
. 19
.14

. 05 to
. 12 to
. 10 to

. 06
. 14
. 12

It will be noticed that a distinction is made between sickness or acci­
dent resulting from the prosecution of the work and that contracted
under other conditions, the benefits being greater in the former than in
the latter case. In exceptional cases, where the injured or sick work­
ingman has an unusually large number of persons dependent upon him
for support, the amount of the benefit as fixed in the regular schedules
can be slightly increased. In no case, however, can the pecuniary aid
accorded to a married man, for himself, his wife, and children, exceed
2.25 francs (43 cents) in case of injury from an accident, or 1.75 francs
(34 cents) in case of sickness. No benefit is paid for an injury or sick­
ness resulting from drunkenness or other misconduct.
When a sickness, not occasioned directly by the work, continues more
3687—No. 4----- 2



348

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

than one hundred days the right to pecuniary aid ceases. Neverthe­
less the administrative council may by special act accord three succes­
sive continuances of thirty days each, but not more.
The third branch of relief work of the society is the pensioning of
disabled workingmen. The society provides for a comprehensive
scheme of pensions for disabled workingmen and for their widows or
children in case they are killed as the result of accidents occurring
during work. The following statement shows the value of invalidity
pensions:
S C H E D U L E OF P E N S IO N S F O R I N V A L I D I T Y P A I D TO M E M B E R S O F T H E M U T U A L
A I D S O C IE T Y A T B L A N Z Y .

Beneficiaries.

W orkin gm an 17 years of age or over...........................................................................
W ork in g woman 17 years o f age or o v e r ...................................................................
Child IB to 17 years of a g e ...............................................................................................

Partial inva­
lidity
(per day).
$0.19
.14
.12

Total inva­
lidity
(per day).
$0.24
.19
.14

A member who is married at the time he becomes entitled to a pen­
sion receives in addition, during the life of his wife, an increase of 0.30
francs (6 cents) per day to his pension, and for each legitimate child
under 13 years of age, 0.25 francs (5 cents) additional. After the death
of the husband or father such additional pensions will continue to the
widow until her remarriage, and to the children until they become 13
years of age. Save in exceptional cases, however, no pensioner can
receive more than 1.75 francs (34 cents) for partial or 2 francs (39 cents)
for total invalidity.
The widow of a workingman killed by an accident received in his
work is entitled to a pension from the day of her husband’s death of
20 francs ($3.86) per month if she is under 60 years of age or 25 francs
($4.83) if she is over that age. In addition the expenses of the funeral
of her husband are defrayed by the society. Children of pensioned
widows, moreover, receive 6 francs ($1.16) per month until they are 5
years of age and 8francs ($1.54) thereafter until 13 years old. Orphans,
having neither father nor mother, of workingmen killed by accident
while at work receive 10 francs ($1.93) per month until 13 years old.
Provisions are also made for the granting of aid to persons or their
dependents injured by accidents occurring otherwise than during work,
though their payment is left largely to the discretion of the managing
council of the society, to be determined according to the merits of each
case.
Finally, provision is made for the pensioning of employees who are
no longer able to work on account of the infirmities of old age. The
section of the constitution regarding this point provides that when aged
workingmen become infirm and unable to provide for their needs by
labor, if they have no claim either to a pension from the old-age pension
fund or to the aid extended to the sick and injured, the administrative




349

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

council may, in their option, grant them a monthly pension not to exceed
the amounts shown in the following table:
SC H ED U LE

OF

P E N S IO N S

FOE, O LD A G E P A I D TO M E M B E K S
A I D S O C IE T Y A T B L A N Z Y .
Years of
service.

Beneficiaries.

W orkin gm en.....................................................................................................
W ork in g w om en................................................................. ............................
W orkingm en.....................................................................................................
W ork in g w om en .............................................................................................
W orkingm en......................................................................................................
W orking w om en.............................................................................................

15
15
20
20
25
25

OF

THE

M UTUAL

Minimum M axim um aid
age.
(per month).
45
45
50
50
55
55

$2.90
1.93
3. 86
2. 51
4.83
3. 09

Additional provisions are likewise made for the pensioning of the
widows and children of workingmen pensioned according to these pro­
visions.
In the foregoing resumd of the conditions under which relief is
granted, by no means all of the cases under which such aid is granted
have been enumerated, or the special conditions under which relief is
increased or discontinued. To do so would have necessitated the trans­
lation of the constitution in extenso. Only the general classes of aid
could be mentioned.
The society, it should be said, is administered by a council of 23 mem­
bers, of which the general manager, the engineer in chief, and the gen­
eral secretary of the company are ex officio president, and first and
second vice-presidents, respectively. The other members consist of a
treasurer and a secretary, chosen from among the office force, and 18 other
members, three of whom are elected from among the engineers, chief
clerks, and office force; three from among the master miners, foremen,
gang leaders, checkers, overseers, and yard masters; six from among
the miners proper; two from among the laborers and other employees
working below ground; two from among the workingmen engaged in
building construction, and watchmen and doorkeepers, and two from
among the railway employees and other surface workingmen.
The great variety of conditions under which relief is given, and the
number of objects of expenditure, render it impossible to give statistics
of the operations of the society in detail. The following table, however,
shows for three recent years the receipts and expenditures of the soci­
ety, according to the main objects for which such expenditures were
made:
E E C E IP T S A N D

E X P E N D IT U E E S

OF T H E M U T U A L A I D S O C IE T Y A T B L A N Z Y , 1888,
1891, A N D 1893.
1888.

1891.

1893.

RECEIPTS.

Subsidy of com p an y......................................................................................... $27, 931.86
28, 537.75
Dues o f m em b ers...............................................................................................
4, 226. 70
Interest on cap ital........................................................... ..................................
Other receipts.......................................................................................................
1,097.17
T otal........................................................................... .................................




61, 793.48

$41,191.41
41, 939.51
5, 008. 66
811. 52

$41, 545.21
42,331. 76
5, 583. 85
854.83

88, 951.10

90, 315.65

350

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

R E C E IP T S A N D

E X P E N D IT U R E S OF T H E M U T U A L A I D
1891, A N D 1893— Concluded.

S O C IE T Y A T B L A N Z Y , 1888,

1888.

EXPENDITURES.
R elief in m oney:
Wbnndert a,th1 siolc_____________ _______________ ____ _________ ___ $23,831.76
W idow s.............................................................. . . . . . . _______ . . . . . . . . .
7,304.28
Orphans__ . . . . . . . ....................................................................... . . . . . . . .
1,490.51
14,739.93
Infirm ......................................................................... ......................................
T otal..............................................................................................................
Medicines and medical supplies...................................................................
Funeral exp en ses........._ „ ................... ..............................................................
Schools
......................................... .................................................................
Expenses of adm in istration............................... .......................... ...............
Other expenses.....................................................................................................
B a la n c e .......................................................................- ..............................

47,366.48
7, 454. 79
397.64
5, 020.54
1, 001. 72
82. 36
469. 95

1891.

1893.

$34, 467.50
7, 574. 39
1,564.29
15, 568.80

$37, 431.06
7, 453.72
1, 258.70
17, 023. 87

59,174.98
12, 721. 09
467.46
2, 768.42
966. 63
1,715.85
11,136.67

63,167.35
14,477. 27
430.17
4,022.24
2,994.68
1, 566.11
3,657. 83

T o ta l..............................................................................................................

61, 793.48

88,951.10

90, 315. 65

A ssets December 3 1 ......................................................................... .................

107, 804.32

132,105.77

143,464.94

MEDICAL SERVICE.

The company has carried out the obligations imposed upon it by the
constitution of the mutual aid society in the most liberal spirit. The
most important of these are those for the organization of a medical
service and the provision of educational facilities. A medical service
of high efficiency has been created. Four physicians, paid by the com­
pany, give their entire attention to the care of the health of the
employees of the company.
The following classes are entitled to both medical help and medi­
cines : All employees a part of whose wages are reserved for the relief
fund 5 their wives when living and residing with them; their children
when residing with them and under 12 years of age, and also chil­
dren over that age if they are unable to work and have no means of
their own; their parents residing with them when without means
of their own; all pensioners of the company, their wives, and children
under 12 years of age and those over 12 if unable to work; widows and
children drawing a pension by virtue of the regulations of the benefit
society.
A t Montceau the workingmen when sick prefer, if possible, to be
treated in their own homes. This is encouraged by the company, and
only the most severe cases of illness are therefore treated at the hos­
pital. The care of the physicians is supplemented by that of nurses
taken from among the Sisters of Charity, whose services may be secured
on the certificate of the physician.
A t the present time there are 11 nuns in the service. The nurses are
not allowed to accept any remuneration for their services from their
patients. Previous to 1871 Montceau possessed a small hospital, the
care of which was intrusted to the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul,
a surgeon and a physician, both of whom had their consulting rooms,
being in attendance. The increase in the number of employees caused
this hospital to become insufficient. In 1869 the Blanzy company began,




INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

351

at its own expense, tlie building of a new edifice. In 1871 it was finished
and formally opened. It has a very imposing appearance, and its inte­
rior arrangement appears to be perfect. M. Burat, writing about the
coal-mining industries in 1872, says of it:
This establishment, all the details of which are studied most carefully,
may be considered as a perfect model. It covers 533 square meters
(5,737 square feet), the main building measuring 22 by 11 meters (72 by 30
feet) and the wings 17 by 8.50 meters (56 by 28 feet). Two stories of well
heated and ventilated rooms are fitted up to accommodate 30 patients, and
could accommodate twice as many if necessary. From the main wards
large doors open into a chapel, whiph allows the sick patients to receive
the instructions and consolations of the church. Halls for consultation,
bathrooms, surgery, pharmacy, and dispensary—everything has been
foreseen and skillfully arranged. There is a garden and terrace for
convalescent patients. It seems as though one had sought to take from
the word “ hospital” the unpleasant associations which it arouses in the
mind of the workingman, but which are less repugnant to him when he
is the recipient of so much kindness.
The Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul have charge of the new hospital,
as they had of the old one. Mention should also here be made of a
fine new building just opened that is intended both as a hospital and
as a home for old workingmen. Several months before his death M.
Leonce Chagot, the general manager of the company, commenced the
construction of this building at his own expense. After his death his
widow completed it and donated it to the company, with the proviso
that it should be used for the care of the old workingmen who, through
any casualty, were left alone in the world. Its objects are exactly
analogous to those of the Soldiers’ Homes in this country. IsTo expense
has been spared to make it a comfortable and attractive home. It
will accommodate 40 persons. The company has accepted the gift,
and in the future will support all the expenses connected with its
maintenance.
SCHOOLS.

Few, if any, mining companies have exceeded that of Blanzy in the
sacrifices made for the provision of educational facilities for the children
of their employees. The company at the present time supports 21
schools, 6 of which are infant, 8 boys’, and 7 girls’ primary schools.
August 1,1893, there were in attendance a total of 6,292 scholars—1,830
in the infant, 2,197 in the girls’ primary, and 2,265 in the boys’ primary
schools. The instructors number 148, of whom 61 are Marist Brothers
and 87 Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul and of Saint Joseph de Cluny.
Examinations are held every year, and scholarships of 450 and 225
francs ($86.85 and $43.43) are awarded to those making the best record
of efficiency to enable them to continue their studies in advanced
schools.
The first expense of the establishment of these schools and of the
workshops attached to them, an account of which follows, amounted to




352

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

1,007,492.54 francs ($194,446.06). The furniture and apparatus for their
equipment cost 31,698 francs ($6,117.71), and the equipment of the
workshops 52,231.65 francs ($10,080.71). The cost of operation of
both schools and workshops amounted in 1891-92 to 171,749.94 francs
($33,147.74), of which 107,534.44 francs ($20,754.15) were for salaries of
teachers and repairs of furniture, and 64,215.50 francs ($12,393.59) for
the keeping in repair of the buildings themselves.
As a rule the company’s schools are intended only for the children
of their own employees, but a goodly number of outside children have
always been admitted upon the request of their parents. On the other
hand the employees of the company are at perfect liberty to send their
children to other schools, though few avail themselves of this option.
TRADE SCHOOL SHOPS FOR GIRLS.

From a number of points of view the most admirable feature of the
work of the company regarding education is the existence of work­
shops in connection with the girls’ schools. In these young girls can
learn a trade, or more frequently learn to make and repair family cloth­
ing. There are seven shops in all; knitting by hand machines is taught
in four, shoemaking in another, and in all the chief occupation is sewing
and clothes making. Each girl can either work for herself and family
or for sale to the public as she chooses. The company pays for all the
machines and tools and remunerates the directors. The system is being
constantly extended. In 1888 there were 219 girls attending the work­
rooms, their average earnings being 16.55 francs ($3.19) a month, though
some earned as much as 50 francs ($9.65) or more. In 1892 the number
of girls was 289, with average earnings of 17.50 francs ($3.38), and in
1893 their number had increased to 355, and their average earnings to
22 francs ($4.25) per month. In addition to wages certain gratuities
are given to the most proficient and industrious. The demand for
admittance to the workrooms far exceeds their capacity, and admission
is therefore considered almost in the nature of a scholarship as the result
of satisfactory work in the schools proper.
L A PRUDENCE, A W ORKINGMEN’ S BUSINESS SOCIETY.

Under the encouragement of the company, the workingmen have
organized, for the management of their business affairs, a society called
La Prudence that is unique in its way and deserves a careful con­
sideration. About the year 1885 the employees of the company were
severely victimized by various agents purporting to sell lottery and
other bonds. The workingmen complained that they were without
defense against dishonest representations, that they were unfamiliar
with business methods and great hardships were often in consequence
endured. Little by little there arose the conception of a workingmen’s
society which would undertake the care of all the business affairs of
its members, such as investments, loans, discounts, buying of title




INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

353

deeds, management of lawsuits, settling of estates, conduct of corre­
spondence, and other kinds of business.
To secure this La Prudence was organized March, 1887, as a joint
stock company. The capital stock, amounting originally to 12,000 francs
($2,316), has been increased from time to time until now it amounts to
118,000 francs ($22,774), divided into shares of 50 francs ($9.65) each.
There are now 880 shareholders, three-fourths of whom at least are work­
ingmen. They are divided into two classes of honorary and ordinary
shareholders. The former pledge themselves not to receive a dividend
exceeding 5 per cent. They have a right to their share in the reserve
fund and can subscribe to any number of shares, and have in the general
assemblies the number of votes that their shares confer upon them.
The ordinary shareholders can not possess more than 20 shares each.
The management of the society is intrusted to a general managerelected by the general assembly of shareholders, assisted by a board
of 15 members elected in a similar way.
In the beginning the intention of the founders was that the society
would simply be the business manager of its members, while at the
same time offering a means for the investment of savings. This bring­
ing together of workingmen in business relations has, however, been
productive of further results. The demonstration of the advantages
of association has been such that the members have been led to use
their society for the creation of various other institutions for their
mutual benefit. Thus there have been organized within the society
several quite distinct departments.
The first of these is that of the business agency, for which the soci­
ety was originally created. In the beginning, business was transacted
only with members of the society, all of whom were employees of the
Blanzy company. But by degrees the work spread, and to-day La Pru­
dence draws its patrons from every calling, and deals with the public
at large. The business of members is transacted gratuitously. Out­
siders pay according to a fixed schedule of charges. This department
is very much appreciated by the members and by the public as well.
A second department is that of the bank. This department has
now become the most important part, at least from the financial point
of view, of the activities of the society.
The following figures, contrasting the operations of the bank during
the years 1891 and 1892, will serve to convey an idea of its importance
and the character of the work that it performs:
CASH STATEMENT.

Balance on hand January 1,1892..........................................................................
$19, 504.44
Balance on hand January 1,1893..........................................................................
15,171.80
Receipts during 1892.................................................................................................
724, 373.52
Paid out during 1892.................................................................................................
728, 706.17
Total financial operations, 1892................ ............................................................ 1,453, 079.69
Total financial operations, 1891.............. .............................................................. 1,127, 986.53
Increase......................................................... ..............................................................
325,093.16




354

BULLETIN OP THE DEPARTMENT OP LABOR.
PAPER DISCOUNTED.

Value of paper discounted, 1892...........................................................................
Value of paper discounted, 1891.................................................*_.......................
Increase.............. .........................................................................................................

$220,455.29
198,850.26
21,605.03

NEGOTIATION OP PROMISSORY NOTES.

On hand January 1, 1892, 79 promissory notes, amounting to ....................
On hand January 1,1893, 142 promissory notes, amounting to ..................
Loaned on 3,636 promissory notes.........................................................................
Received on 3,573 promissory notes canceled...................................................
Total of operations during year 1892.................................................................
Total o f operations during year 1891.................................................................
Increase.........................................................................................................................

1, 992.62
6,899.22
254, 079.94
249,173.34
503,253.28
403,572.10
99,681.18

COLLECTION OF BILLS.

On hand January 1,1892,1,198 bills for collection, amounting to ............
35, 422.19
On hand January 1,1893,1,108 hills for collection; amounting to ............
35, 832.20
Received for collection during year, 19,896 hills, amounting to ................
628, 732. 34
Collected during year, 19,986 hills, amounting t o ..........................................
628, 322.33
Total of operations during year 1892................................................................. 1,257, 054. 67
Total of operations during year 1891.................................................................
989,876.49
Increase.........................................................................................................................
267,178.18
DEPOSITORS’ ACCOUNTS.

Deposits on hand January 1,1892.........................................................................
Deposits on hand January 1,1893.........................................................................
Deposited during year.............................................................................................
Withdrawn during year...........................................................................................
Total of operations during year 1892...................................................................
Total of operations during year 1891...................................................................
Increase.......................... ..............................................................................................

21,063.91
17, 497.88
193, 620.46
197,186.49
390, 806.95
256,923.05
133,883. 90

The third branch of La Prudence is the savings bank department.
Two distinct savings banks have been created. The first, called La Tirelire (The Money Box), is a schools’ savings bank. Depositors must be
under 21 years of age and either attend the company’s schools or be
employed in the company’s works. Deposits bear interest at 4 per
cent, compounded annually. As soon, however, as an account amounts
to 200 francs ($38.60) the society has the option of converting it into a
savings certificate in the ordinary shareholders’ savings bank. This
latter bank, called La Fourmi (The Ant), after a similar organization in
Paris, is similar in its operations to other savings banks. The following
figures concerning the operations of the two banks during the years
1891 and 1892 illustrate the importance of their operations:
Cash on hand January 1,1892..................................................................................... $12,258.98
Cash on hand January 1,1893..................................................................................... 14,141.23
Receipts during year 1892............................................................................................. 24,764.89
Paid out during year 1892 ........................................................................................... 22,882.64
Total of operations during year 1892 ....................................................................... 47, 647.53
Total of operations during year 1891.................................. .................................... 29,942.80
Increase............................................................................................................................ 17,704.73




355

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

A fourth department is the relief fund. Participation in this is purely
optional. The fund is constituted through the payment of dues, the
receipt of gifts, etc. It is unnecessary to analyze its operations.
The Society of La Prudence has had an unprecedented success among
the members of the Blanzy company, and it has exercised a notable
influence throughout the surrounding country. Its progress has sur­
passed all expectations, and it is still increasing. It has established a
kind of brotherhood and solidarity between employers and workingmen
and other inhabitants of the locality that has been very influential in
the maintenance of friendly relations.
The Blanzy company has fully appreciated all these facts, and has
encouraged the society in every possible way. It has provided for it a
very fine building, the upper story of which is fitted up as a club room
for the shareholders. It has with it a running account, borrowing from
the society at 4 per cent interest, thus insuring that the society shall
never have on hand unproductive money. It pays a small subsidy for
trifling services, such as letters, consultations, representation in the
law courts, and in general makes it a medium for the transaction of
business whenever possible.
Its most notable employment, however, is that whereby it has been
made the agent for managingthe system lately inaugurated by the com­
pany, of advancing money to workingmen with which to build homes.
The operation of this scheme, as well as the relation of La Prudence to
it, has been fully described under the section devoted to workingmen’s
homes. This work has already become one of the most important
services rendered by the society.
The following general statement of the assets and liabilities of the
society for the years 1889 and 1893 shows the growth in importance
of the society during these years:
A S S E T S A X D L I A B I L I T I E S OF L A P R U D E X C E , 1889 A X D 1893.

1889.

1893.

ASSETS.

$168.89
Real estate.............................*................................................................................................
Running accou n ts......................................................... ......................................................
Loans..........................................................................................................................................
Stocks, bonds, etc..................................................................................................................
Miscellaneous credits.........................................................................................................
Money advanced to workingmen to build hom es..................................................

6,
2,
5,
2,

631. 91
288.32
856. 33
004. 60

$17, 243.46
2, 085. 06
37, 829.97
10, 697.50
66,520.12
21, 021.28
29, 555.14

16, 950. 05

184, 952. 53

Obligations on a,or,mint of a.dvannps -maila f o r b u ild in g......................................
C a p ita l.....................................................................................................................................
D ep osits....................................................................................................................................
Deposits in L a Tirelire...... ...................................... ..........................................................
Miscellaneous lia bilities...................................................................................................

7, 729. 65
7, 243. 06
1, 033. 59
943.75

17,389 30
26 219.15
64,488.44
2, 700, 36
74,155. 28

T o t a l ................................................................................. ............................................

16, 950. 05

184, 952. 53

T o t a l .............................................................................................................................
LIABILITIES.




356

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

WEAVING- FACTORY FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN.

The steps taken by the company to furnish work to the female in­
habitants of Montceau, the wives and daughters of their employees,
deserves tbe heartiest commendation. The establishment of workshops
for girls in connection with their schools has already received considera­
tion. This, however, provides for but a comparatively small number.
Married women, with rare exceptions, are never employed by tbe com­
pany. But widows, enjoying good health, and young girls from their
thirteenth year to their marriage, which takes place generally when
they are very young, were until late years employed in great numbers
in sifting and sorting coal. They have never been allowed to work
below ground in the mines. In consequence of improvements made in
the methods of sorting and sifting coal, the number of girls thus
employed has been greatly diminished during the last few years. This
has led the company to devise other means for their employment. As
the most important step, the company built in 1882 a fully equipped
steam weaving factory. The total cost of erection was 607,441.31
francs ($117,236.17), divided as follows: Purchase of ground and erec­
tion of buildings, warehouses, sheds, etc., 180,835.29 francs ($34,901.21) ;
purchase of machinery and stock, 421,128.32 francs ($81,277.76); pur­
chase of furniture, 5,477.70 francs ($1,057.20). The buildings and yard
cover 2 hectares (4.9 acres) of ground. The factory is equipped with
254 looms, of which 154 are for the weaving of plain and embroidered
silks and 100 for the weaving of calicoes (Boanne goods style).
The number of working women and workingmen furnished employ­
ment in this factory in 1892 was 442, and the total amount of their
wages 175,590.05 francs ($33,888.88). A t the present time a large addi­
tion is in the course of erection, which, when completed, will afford
opportunities for the employment of 600 additional working women, or
about 1,000 for the whole establishment. It is unnecessary to more
than call attention to the great additions that can thus be made to the
total family income of the company’s employees.
Within the last two or three years the company has commenced the
system of giving out work that can be done by the women in their
own homes, and at the present time an extension of the system and
its further organization is under consideration. The object sought is
to permit mothers of families while they are taking care of their chil­
dren to at the same time increase the family income by the proceeds
from light work that can be performed notwithstanding frequent inter­
ruptions.
MISCELLANEOUS AID TO WORKINGMEN.

In a community where the influence of the employing company is so
all-pervading as at Montceau it is impossible to follow with equal detail
all the directions in which the company has exercised its power to




357

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES.

better tbe condition of the inhabitants. A glance at the table giving
the annual sacrifices entailed upon the company by its social work
shows how diversified are its activities in this direction. The following
paragraph can only attempt to recapitulate briefly the most important
features of its work that have not yet been described:
The climate of Montcean is a somewhat rigorous one, and the item of
expense for fuel is an important one. The company allows all under­
ground workingmen 72 hectoliters (204.3 bushels) of coal, representing
a market value of 72 francs ($13.90), free of cost annually. Other work­
ingmen enjoy the privilege of buying coal at reduced rates. During
the year 1891-92 there were distributed to underground workingmen
296,005 hectoliters (839,973 bushels), worth 296,005 francs ($57,128.97).
Surface workingmen received 8,918 fuel grants, worth 12 francs ($2.32)
each, and for which they pay 3 francs (58 cents), representing, therefore,
a sacrifice by the company of 80,262 francs ($15,490.57). In addition,
the company provides the pensioned and superannuated workingmen,
the schools, the hospital, the vicarage, and a great many poor with coal
free of cost. During the year 1891-92 the total value of the coal given
away amounted to 396,716.20 francs ($76,566.23). To but mention
other objects, the company defrays the expense of a band organized
among its employees; it has built and kept in repair several churches;
it has provided free bathing establishments; it conducts a small circu­
lating library; it has erected a large flouring mill, in order to cheapen
the cost of flour to its employees, and it contributes materially to the
support of the various societies for sport and recreation that the work­
ingmen have organized among themselves. Among the latter may be
mentioned the gun club, the gymnastic club, the fencing club, and
young men’s and girls’ social clubs.
E X P E N D I T U R E S OE T H E C O A L M I N I N O C O M P A N Y OE B L A N Z Y EOR T H E B E N E F IT
OE E M P L O Y E E S , B Y O B JE C T S OE E X P E N D I T U R E , 1887-88, 1891-92, A N D 1892-93.

Object of expenditure.

Housing o f workingmen .....................................................................
M utual aid so ciety .......................................................................... . . .
Pension fund, workingm en.................................................................
Pension fund, higher employees.......................................................
Schools and w orkroom s.......................................................................
Health service .........................................................................................
Free fu e l......................................................................................................
Other subsidies to workingm en’s societies (direct aid, etc) Total.................................................................................................

1887-88.

1891-92.

$36, 562.90
2, 096.28
•33,701.11*
7, 776. 96
61, 716.86
26, 889. 98

$47,997.80
42,423. 95
21,715.83
6, 988.05
42, 059. 00
11,121.63
76, 566. 23
48, 318. 68

$42,083. 68
44, 925.56
24, 368.71
4, 778. 67
45, 229.10
9, 257.46
94, 955. 20
48, 225. 73

215, 927.41

297,191.17

313,824.11

a 27, 931.86
b 19, 251.46

1892-93.

a l t w ill be noticed that these figures agree w ith those given for the calendar year 1888, page 349.
The explanation is not known. The figures in both cases are as furnished by the company.
6 These figures do not agree w ith those given on page 344. The explanation is not known. The
figures in both cases are as furnished by the company.

CONCLUSION.

In the preceding account of the conditions at Anzin a general sum­
mary has been given of the influences surrounding the life of the work­
ingmen, especially from the standpoint of a comparison of past with




358

BULLETIN OE THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

existing conditions. The conclusions there reached apply in almost
every particular to Blanzy as well. In every respect the workingman’s
conditions seem to have improved, and while the tendency is for the
employer to make greater sacrifices for his employees, the latter are
allowed a constantly increasing participation in the management of
institutions intended for their benefit. The most important series of
tables given in the conclusion for Anzin was that showing the stability
of employment. A similar set of tables is here given for Blanzy. An
analysis of them along the same lines shows almost identical results.
These can be easily seen from an inspection of the tables themselves,
as they are very simple in construction.
E M P L O Y E E S OE T H E C O A L M I N I N G C O M P A N Y OE B L A N Z Y A T W O R K
G R O U N D , B Y A G E S A N D Y E A R S OF S E R V IC E , D E C E M B E R , 1892.

BELOW

Years o f service.
A ges.

1 or 2 or 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 or 30 or 35 or 40 or
T o ta l
Under
under under under under under under under under under under 45 or
1.
over.
5.
10.
15.
20.
2.
25.
30.
35.
40.
45.

13 y ’rs or under 18.
18 v ’rs nrunder 23.
2 3 v ’r so ru n d e r2 8 '
2 8 y ’rsoru nder33.
33 y ’rs orun der 38.
3 8y ’rs or under 43.
43 y ’rs or under 48.
4 8 y ’rsoru nder53.
53 y ’rs or under 58.
58 y ’rs or under 63.
63 y ’rs or under 68.
68 y ’rs or over___

61
55
63
37
33
14
15

T o ta l.............

278

99
198
191
147
78
51
11

484
295
172
151
63
26
14
15

386
179
143
86
41
22
20

214
105
81
57
26
21
17
14

113
97
49
43
28
15
13
7

775 1,220

877

535

365

25
49
65
35
32
23
21
12
8 *
270

5
37
49
23
14
25
14
7

4
23
24
24
17
9
8

19
15
11
12
7

17
15
7
3

174

109

64

42

E M P L O Y E E S OE T H E C O A L M I N I N G C O M P A N Y OP B L A N Z Y A T W O R K
G R O U N D , B Y A G E S A N D Y E A R S OF S E R V IC E , D E C E M B E R , 1892.

2
2

644
934
819
726
487
344
238
182
125
116
56
40
4, 711

ABOVE

Years of service.
Ages.

2 or
5 or 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 or 30 or 35 or 40 or
1 or
Total.
Under under under under under under under under under under under 45 or
over.
1.
30.
15.
20.
35.
40.
45.
10.
25.
5.
2.

13 y ’rs or under 18.
18 y ’ rs or under 23.
23 y ’rs or under 28.
28 y ’rs or under 33.
3 3 y ’rsoru nder38.
38 y ’rs or under 43.
4 3 y ’rsoru nder48.
4 8 y ’rs or under 53.
53 y ’rs or under 58.
58 y ’rs or under 63.
63 y ’rs or under 68.
68 y ’rs or over. t__

215
65
86
92
77
37
23

T o ta l............

595




297
89
104
123
97
35
24

769

222
121
84
72
40
39
19

597

89
101
52
23
24
73
12

374

60
36
32
16
36
27
4
12
5

12
28
24
15
39
32
9
5
9
7

4
11
8
18
7
3
15
2

11
19
15
5
12
13

228

180

68

75

17
9
3
9
3
7

4
13
5

3

48

22

3

734
364
447
403
297
188
262
126
24
41
52
21
2, 959

359

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES,

E M P L O Y E E S OF T H E C O A L M I N I N G C O M P A N Y OF B L A N Z Y A T W O R K B E L O W A N D
A B O V E G R O U N D , B Y A G E S A N D Y E A R S OF S E R V IC E , D E C E M B E R , 1892.
Years of service.
1 or 2 or 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 or 30 or 35 or 40 or
Under
45 or Total.
under under under under under under under under under under
over.
1.
30.
2.
5.
15.
20.
25.
35.
45.
10.
40.

Ages.

13 y ’rs oru nderl8.
18 y ’rs or under 23.
23 y ’rs or under 28.
28 y ’rs or under 33.
33 y ’rs or under 38.
38 y ’rs or under 43.
43 y ’rs or under 48.
48 y ’rs or under 53.
53y’rs orunder 58.
58 y ’rs orunder 63.
63 y ’rs orunder 68.
68 y ’rs or over........

120
149
129

110

396
287
295
270
175

51
38

86
35

706
416
256
223
103
65
33
15

475
280
195
109
65
95
32

274
141
113
73
62
48
17
18

12
5
873 1,544 1,817 1, 251

Total

NUMBER

276

AND

PER CENT

12
141
121
64
82
60
24
18
9
14

25
53
76
43
50
30
24
27
10

48
68
38
19
37
27
7

4
40
33
27
26
12
15

545

338

249

157

OF E M P L O Y E E S OF

THE

1,378
1,298
1,266
1,129
784
532
500
308
149
157
108
61

5
4 ..........
32 ..........
15
17
16
18
12
7
7
3
2

7,670

C O A L M I N I N G C O M P A N Y OF

B L A N Z Y A T W O R K B E L O W A N D A B O V E G R O U N D , B Y Y E A R S OF S E R V IC E , D E C E M ­
BER , 1892.

Years of service.

Employees Employees
above
below
ground,.
ground.

Total.

Employees Employees
above
below
Total
ground
ground
(percent).
(per cent). (per cent).

Under 1 y e a r .......................................
1 or under 2 years...............................
2 or under 5 years...............................
5 or under 10 years.............................
10 or under 15 years...........................
15 or under 20 years...........................
20 or under 25 yea rs...........................
25 or under 30 years...........................
30 or under 35 years...........................
35 or under 40 years...........................
40 or under 45 years...........................
45 years or over...................................

278
775
1,220
877
535
£65
270
174
109
64
42
2

595
769
597
374
228
180
68
75
48
22
3

873
1,544
1,817
1,251
763
545
338
249
157
86
45
2

5. 90
16.45
25. 90
18. 62
11.36
7. 75
5. 73
3.69
2.31
1.36
0. 89
0.04

20.11
25. 99
20.18
12. 64
7.71
6. 08
2.30
2. 53
1. 62
0. 74
0.10
0.00

11.38
20.13
23. 69
16.31
9.95
7.10
4.41
3.25
2. 05
1.12
0.59
0. 02

T o t a l...........................................

4,711

2,959

7,670

100.00

100.00

100.00

E M P L O Y E E S E N T E R IN G A N D L E A V I N G T H E SE R V IC E OF T H E
C O M P A N Y OF B L A N Z Y , 1883 to 1893.

Year.

1884...............................................................................................
1885
..........................................................................................
1886...............................................................................................
1887...............................................................................................
1888 ...........................................................................................
1889...............................................................................................
1890...............................................................................................
1891...............................................................................................
1892...............................................................................................
1893__________________________________ _________________
Aversive___




COAL

Total
Employees Employees
employees. entering.
leaving.

M IN IN G

Per cent of
employees
leaving o f
total em­
ployees.

5,321
5,138
5, 030
5, 092
5, 213
5, 565
5,996
7, Oil
7,932
8,014
7, 834

684
174
205
400
469
708
807
1,417
1,289
419
406

376
357
313
338
348
356
376
402
368
337
586

7. 07
6.95
6.22
6.64
6. 68
6.40
6.27
5. 73
4.64
4.21
7.48

6,195

634

378

6.10

THE SWEATING SYSTEM.
B Y H EN RY W H IT E , GENERAL SECRETARY, UNITED GARMENT W O R K ­
ERS OF AM ERICA.

The sweating system, which makes of the home a workshop, even in
the crowded tenement, and drafts the members of the family into service,
presents a problem so serious as to command the attention of reformers
and statesmen in all nations having the modern industrial system fully
developed.
The term u sweating system?? has a general meaning, but is specif­
ically used to describe a condition of labor in which a maximum amount
of work in a given time is performed for a minimum wage, and in which
the ordinary rules of health and comfort are disregarded. It is insep­
arably associated with contract work, and it is intensified by subcon
tracting in shops conducted in homes. Such conditions prevail to a
distressing degree in localities having a large, herded foreign popula­
tion, and among people known for excessive industry and thrift—vir­
tues otherwise considered indispensable to prosperity and happiness
Recently arrived foreign working people crowded into the big cities are
the most helpless, and, in order to barely live, are willing to submi^ to
almost incredible exactions. It is thus that this form of labor soon
outcompetes and displaces all other forms and becomes the standard
for the particular industry in which it is introduced.
The use of machinery in the making of garments has not figured
largely in displacing labor and reducing the standard of skill formerly
required, but rather the subdivision of labor, especially in the cheaper
grades of work. This has made the garment-making industry an easy
refuge for immigrants, and enables them to work in small shops which
in many other industries would be inadequate to compete with larger
and better-equipped factories. This class of workers, therefore, become
wholly dependent upon the knowledge that they have acquired of one
small part of the trade, and are incapable of advancement through
individual effort.
High rents contribute their share of responsibility for the sweating
system. If rents were cheap there would be a distinct advantage in
working in separate rooms or shops. This is invariably the result, for
in localities where rents are lower, the shops are larger and the evils
not so acute. The saving in rent is an important item. To combine
a kitchen, bedroom, and workshop, to utilize a garret or a loft over a
360




THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

361

stable, saves rent even though it sacrifices the health of the worker
and the products of such shops spread sickness and death among the
consumers.
The conditions that make the sweating system possible may be
summed up as follows: First, crowded population in large cities; second,
high rent5 third, contract work.
The sweat shop as we know it, if stripped of some of its obnoxious
features, represents in a degree the small shop of the master and journey­
men, conducted in connection with the household, before the advent of
the factory system. In the small towns and villages of eastern and
southern Europe this system still continues, particularly in the tailor­
ing trade. The similarity is heightened by the fact that nearly all of
the sweaters and sweat-shop workers, and many of the clothing and
cloak manufacturers, are natives of eastern Europe, and it is thus that
this most undesirable form of industry, the sweating system, became so
easy of development and was engrafted on our manufacturing system.
In comparison with the more primitive workshop, the sweat shop
differs materially. In the former the employer was also the dealer, and
the contracting of work did not exist. As the shopkeeper or master
depended for patronage upon his immediate neighbors, the keen com­
petition of modern business enterprise was not a factor, and the pres­
ent leveling struggle for employment was unknown. Neither were the
social contrasts so great. The workers labored more leisurely, their
wages were naturally lower, and their wants were but few.
The opportunities for cheap labor afforded by the sweat shop were in
time taken advantage of by those manufacturers who evidently eased
their conscience under the plea of necessity, and apparently it was
nobody’s business how the work was done as long as a certain price
was agreed upon with the sweater who begged for the work.
American enterprise, always alert to introduce the newest productive
methods, is credited with first making an extensive use of the laborcheapening sweating system. Immediately after the close of the civil
war a large immigration followed, coming largely from the countries
of eastern and southern Europe. An excessive demand also at that
time existed for clothing, due to the revival in trade, and the limited
capacity of the shops induced the making of garments in homes and by
contract. This is how, in all probability, the sweating system received
its first impulse. The wholesale manufacture and selling of clothing
was then in its infancy. England, Ireland, France, and Germany fol­
lowed the undertaking, and with it came the sweat shop to the large
cities having favorable surroundings for its development.
In Europe the excess of ready-made over custom work is not so large
as in this country, and although considerable custom work is made in
homes, very little outside help is employed. This distinction is impor­
tant. Merely working at home on some article of manufacture is not
fn itself so objectionable. The combination of living apartment and




362

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

factory and the employment of outsiders therein constitute the det­
rimental features which in time become a menace to the community.
Much has been done by modern medical science and sanitation to
prevent the spread of disease, but, paradoxical as it may seem, the
sweat shop as a source of disease in our great centers of population has
developed at the same time.
In order to fully comprehend this subject, it is necessary to know the
extent and status of the industries in which the sweating evil prevails.
Although the sweating system exists in a number of occupations, it is
the garment-making industry (comprising men’s clothing, ladies’ cloak
and suit, undergarment, and shirt-making branches) that has given it
its real significance. The manufacture of clothing and cloaks at whole­
sale is the most concentrated of all the garment-making branches, and is
confined mainly to the following large cities in the order of their rank,
viz: New York and vicinity (including Brooklyn and Newark), Chicago,
Philadelphia, Rochester, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Syracuse,
Cleveland, St. Louis, Utica, and Milwaukee. One hundred thousand
people, in round numbers, are engaged in this industry in these cities,
of whom fully 40,000 are in the vicinity of New York City. By includ­
ing the shirt and undergarment branches, there are at least 60,000 per­
sons employed at garment making in New York and vicinity, and about
•70 per cent of these work in small shops and on contract work. In the
ladies’ cloak and suit trade the seasons of work are short, and work is
usually rushed. The frequent interruptions caused by strikes in this
branch have induced many of the wholesale firms to conduct large
shops of their own. This is considered to be an improvement.
The clothing and cloak cutters and trimmers number about 8,000,
and are credited with being the most intelligent and skilled workmen
in the trade. They are employed directly by the firms, usually on the
premises, and their condition is in marked contrast to that of the other
branches. The hours of labor are nine per day, with the exception of a
half holiday on Saturdays during five months. In Chicago, however,
the hours of labor are eight per day. The standard wages are from
$15 to $24 per week, but the usual rate is $20 per week. This is an
indication of the difference between direct employment and indirect
contract work. When the latter is undertaken, the middleman as con­
tractor becomes a factor and his profits must be taken from wages. Of
course, with subcontracting wages must be reduced still more; so the
worker suffers at every appearance of the contractor or subcontractor.
Conditions of labor as degrading, perhaps, as those of the sweat shop
exist in many industries, but no class of laborers is so desperately sit­
uated, owing to the difficulty of introducing reforms in the numerous
small shops abounding in the dark corners of the great cities, the help­
lessness of the victims, and the ignorant tenacity with which they cling
to their tasks.
There are many model shops in which garments are made, having all
the latest appliances for the comfort and health of the employees, but



THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

363

these are exceptions and are mainly due to the generosity and philan­
thropic motives of the employers or to special business tact and able
management. Even the contract method of manufacturing is not in
itself injurious so long as such work is carried on in large, healthy
shops; but it is the intensifying of competition through this means and
the opportunities afforded for petty contractors to successfully com­
pete that make the contract system so disadvantageous.
The petty contractor has made possible the sweating evil, and he is
inseparable from it. As little capital and not much general knowledge
of the trade are required to become a contractor, almost any ordinary
workman can enter the field and compete with the others on even
ground. This soon results in such keen competition between the con­
tractors for the opportunity to obtain work that prices are reduced to
a ruinous figure.
It is often asked, Why do not the wholesale manufacturers conduct
their own large shops just as the cutting of the clothing is done! The
manufacturers themselves frankly acknowledge that that would cost
them more, even though the contractor makes a profit, and, besides,
under the present system the trouble and expense of supervision are
avoided. This really means that the wholesale merchant under the con­
tract system shirks all responsibility for the conditions under which
the employees work. Moreover, large shops would become more amen­
able to the State factory laws, and it would then be impossible to im­
pose conditions of work so near the very life line.
This evil does not end here, however, for the contractors in turn sub­
contract the buttonhole making and finishing or “ felling” to others.
The “ felling” is usually done by women at their homes, and very often
by the whole family. Under such an arrangement it is easily seen that,
aided by competition, prices and wages must continue to fall, and the
work day to be lengthened until the limit of human endurance is
reached. This limit, it seems, has been touched through the task sys­
tem, an arrangement in the coat-making branch by which the contractor
and the employees engage in a sort of cooperation, under which the
contractor agrees with his employees to solicit work from the ware­
houses at a figure perhaps refused by another, provided they (a set of
hands—usually four or five persons) are willing to do a certain task
for a “ day’s work” for so much wages, even though it takes two or
three days to do the specified “ day’s work.” This “ set,” of course,
can work as many hours in a day as it chooses, the only limit being
that of endurance. Can a more objectionable plan be devised to obtain
all the labor possible from a human being, whether man, woman, or
child, the return for which is insufficient to maintain such a high pres­
sure of energy! This is truly the very height of the sweating system.
It seems as though its victims are grasping at a chance to preserve
life for the time being at any cost. Piecework, which is the rule in
the vest, pants, cloak, and shirt-making trades, has been brought, also,
to the same level through the contract method of work. The above
3687—No. 4------3



364

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

description I Rave endeavored to give temperately and accurately,
based upon careful observation. In fact, it would be difficult to exag­
gerate the unfavorable conditions of this system of labor and its vicious
effects.
It is usually supposed that only cheap and common clothing is made
in sweat shops and in homes, but such is not the fact, because cheap
clothing is generally manufactured on a large scale so that the work
can be systematically divided into many divisions—in some cases as
many as 12—in order thfit it may be turned out very quickly; but the
well-made garments require the long, continuous, and careful work that
the workers at home or in small shops can give.
Factory legislation is now generally recognized as being of practical
value and in accord with public policy. The factory acts of England
have been largely copied in this country with marked success, and
there is a decided tendency in all manufacturing States toward a
greater efficiency in the factory inspection service, and the sanitary
laws applied to workshops are being made more stringent. The strides
made in such regulations, particularly in regard to minors and limita­
tion of working hours, can best be realized when compared with the
factory act of England, introduced in 1833, which prohibited children
under 11 years of age from working longer than nine hours per day and
obliged them to attend school two hours a day. What a story of
wretchedness does this tell! The act was passed only after the most
intense opposition notwithstanding the fearful disclosures made by a
Parliamentary committee.
The limitations set for such protective legislation are confined at
present to the enforcement of sanitary rules an I rules for personal
safety, the employment of minors, and the limitation of the hours of
labor for women and children, and even for men in special vocations, but
do not touch the contract system, wages, etc.; consequently this great
gap can only be filled by the working people themselves through their
own endeavors. Factory laws promote the cause of education by keep­
ing children of school age from replacing adults in the factories and by
providing rules framed in the interest of cleanliness and morality. All
this must naturally have a wholesome tendency to increase self-respect,
independence, and self-help, and to make a higher standard of living
possible. Some manufacturers have pursued the short-sighted policy of
opposing all factory restrictions which eventually proved to be of ben­
efit to the fair manufacturer and the industry in general.
The possibility of contagion spreading through infected clothing
coming from filthy shops has been widely discussed, and prominent
physicians have acknowledged this to be an imminent danger. In the
beginning of 1894 in Chicago a smallpox epidemic prevailed, and was
confined mainly to the clothing districts. Two hundred and seventythree different tenement houses were reported by the factory inspectors
to be infected, and the health officials had only a small number of these
on their list.



THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

365

The sweat shop as a menace to health in addition to the other impor­
tant considerations has led to radical special legislation aiming at the
suppression of the sweat shop. New York, Massachusetts, Illinois,
and Pennsylvania have thus grappled with the problem, and the results
of the measures adopted by these States are watched with close inter­
est by the lawmakers of the other States, and similar legislation is
now being proposed in Ohio. The laws of Massachusetts, Illinois, and
Pennsylvania are modeled after the following section of the New York
factory laws of 1893:
No room or apartment in any tenement or dwelling house shall be
used, except by the immediate members of the family living therein,
for the manufacture of coats, vests, trousers, knee pants, overalls, cloaks,
hats, caps, suspenders, jerseys, blouses, waists, waistbands, under­
wear, neckwear, furs, fur trimmings, fur garments, shirts, purses,
feathers, artificial flowers, cigarettes, or cigars. No person, firm or
corporation shall hire or employ any person to work in any room or
apartment, in any rear building or building in the rear of a tenement
or dwelling house at making in whole or in part any of the articles
mentioned in this section, without first obtaining a written permit from
the factory inspector, his assistant, or one of his deputies, stating the
maximum number of persons allowed to be employed therein. Such
permit shall not be granted until an inspection of such premises is
made by the factory inspector, his assistant, or one of his deputies, and
may be revoked by the factory inspector at any time the health of the
community or of those so employed may require it. It shall be framed
and posted in a conspicuous place in the room or in one of the rooms
to which it relates. Every person, firm, company or corporation, con­
tracting for the manufacture of any of the articles mentioned in this
section, or giving out the incomplete material from which they or any
of them are to be made, or to be wholly or partially finished, shall keep
a written register of the names and addresses o f all persons to whom
such work is given to be made, or with whom they may have con­
tracted to do the same. Such register shall be produced for inspection
and a copy thereof shall be furnished on demand made by the factory
inspector, his assistant, or one of his deputies. No person shall know­
ingly sell or expose for sale any of the articles mentioned in this section
which were made in any dwelling house, tenement house, or building
in the rear of a tenement or dwelling house, without the permit re­
quired by this section, and any officer appointed to enforce the provi­
sions of this act who shall find any of such articles made in« violation
of the provisions hereof, shall conspicuously affix to such article a label
containing the words utenement made” printed in small pica capital
letters on a tag not less than two inches in length; and such officer
shall notify the person owning or alleged to own such articles that he
so labeled them. No person shall remove or deface any tag or label so
affixed. When any article mentioned in this section is found by the
factory inspector, his assistant, or any of his deputies, to be made
under unclean or unhealthy conditions, he shall affix thereto the label
prescribed by this section, and shall immediately notify the local board
of health whose duty it shall be to disinfect the same and thereupon
remove such label.
The above provisions prohibit not only the manufacture of garments
in living apartments (except by the immediate members of the family)
and unsanitary workshops, but seek to interfere with the sale of such



366

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

goods by making it necessary to have a label attacked and by forbid­
ding their sale until properly disinfected and the label removed.
The Massachusetts law is similar in its provisions, but permits goods
made in violation of the law to be sold upon the following conditions:
"Whoever knowingly sells or exposes for sale any ready-made coats,
vests, trousers or overcoats which have been made in a tenement house
used as a workshop, as specified in section forty-four of this act, shall
have affixed to each of said garments a tag or label not less than two
inches in length and one inch in width, upon which shall be legibly
printed or written the words utenement made” and the name of the
State and the town or city where said garment or garments were made.
No person shall sell or expose for sale any of said garments without
a tag or label as aforesaid affixed thereto, nor sell or expose for sale any
of said garments with a false or fraudulent tag or label, nor willfully
remove, alter or destroy any such tag or label upon any of said gar­
ments when exposed for sale.
The special laws of Illinois dealing with the sweat shops are similar
to those of New York and Massachusetts with the exception of the tag
or label provision. The factory inspectors, however, are given the
power to order garments destroyed when found infectious or containing
vermin, and to prevent the employment in any dwelling room of any
person not a member of the family living therein. These distinctions
are of considerable importance, as in New York and Massachusetts the
inspector is first obliged to make complaint to the board of health
before goods can be so destroyed, and persons can only be prohibited
from being employed in dwelling rooms through process of law.
Pennsylvania last year adopted a special sweat-shop law worded simi­
larly to the New York law, with the exception that it omits the tag or
label provision.
The age limitations for the employment of children in these four States
are: New York, 14 years 5 Massachusetts, 13 years; Illinois, 14 years;
Pennsylvania, 13 years.
The hours of labor in New York are limited to 60 per week for per­
sons under 18 years of age and women under 21 years of age. No person
under 18 years of age and no woman under 21 can be employed before
6 a. m. or after 9 p. m.
In Massachusetts the law limits the hours of work to 58 a week for
minors under 18 years and women. No child under 14 years of age can
be employed before 6 a. m. or after 7 p. m. In Illinois the law of 1893
provided that no female could be employed more than 8 hours in any
day, but the supreme court, in November, 1894, declared this provision
unconstitutional. In Penn sylvania minors must not be employed in any
one day longer than 12 hours nor in any one week more than 60 hours.
Ohio, Maryland, and Missouri have not enacted any special remedial
legislation, although the sweating evil flourishes in their territory. The
general factory laws in Ohio are above the average standard. The age at
which children may be employed in manufacturing establishments is 14
years, with the provision that children of more than 12 years of age may



THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

367

be employed at nondangerous employment during the time they are not
required by law to attend school. The number of inspectors employed
in Ohio is 13, including a chief inspector and a clerk. The Missouri
law makes no special provision for the age limitation of child labor,
except that minors shall not be required to clean machinery, etc. Mary­
land does not employ a single inspector; it simply makes violations of
the very lenient factory laws subject to prosecution by individuals and
the health departments.
Sanitary rules at their best can deal only with one phase of the sub­
ject, and can not lessen the tasks of the sweating classes. Neither can
the health officials, in addition to other duties, hope to maintain super­
vision over the evasive sweater. It is only by those who have made
factory conditions, particularly in the tenement districts, a study that
sanitary rules can be properly enforced and the spread of disease pre­
vented. The evil is so extensive and so difficult to reach that the ordi­
nary factory inspectors, whose duties are not alone to investigate the
sweating evil, are plainly unable to cope with the abuses. Legislation
preventing the employment of minors, restricting the hours of labor of
women and children, and specifying the amount of air space required
for each person employed all tends to make the sweat shops as such
less profitable. All of the manufacturing States have legislated in this
direction, but there is a most remarkable laxity in enforcing these laws
or providing for their enforcement. A large, populous State has a force
of factory inspectors not as large as the force required to police a city
ward, and yet the duties of each inspector are as important and more
arduous certainly than those of a policeman.
As the factory inspectors’ work is still regarded as experimental, large
and quick results are expected, and public criticism is based upon the
impression made on the whole vast factory system of the State. To
fully extirpate all the workshop evils, very careful and close inspection
is required. Besides, the prosecutions for violations are made very
troublesome, owing to the difficulty of obtaining sufficient evidence.
The employees of a sweat shop, usually through intimidation and igno­
rant fear, when giving testimony endeavor to shield the employer, even
where a flagrant infringement of the law is apparent. The ease with
which a sweater can change his abode, thus necessitating a new inspec­
tion, is another great obstacle. As the tenement shop is the cheapest
method of manufacturing, it is the fittest under the sharp competition
which originated it, and consequently the tendency is irresistibly that
way. The well-regulated clothing workshop, being at a disadvantage,
often gives way to the combination of dwelling and workshop, which
neither deserves the name of the one nor is suited to the other. Thus
the factory inspectors are called upon to stem this tide—not alone to
introduce reforms. To judge what really has been accomplished in
this respect, we can only deal with New York, Massachusetts, Illinois,
and Pennsylvania, the only States that have made a serious attempt
at suppressing the sweat-shop evil.



368

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The State of New York has 24 deputy inspectors (9 of whom are
women), a chief, and an assistant to inspect the 65,840 factories in the
State. Of these factories 25,400 are located in the vicinity of New
York City, and the subfactory-inspection department of New York
City has 14 inspectors attached (7 being women).
Massachusetts is better provided in this respect, having 26 inspectors
for 26,923 factories.
Illinois has 11 inspectors (including 4 women and a chief) for 20,482
factories in the State.
In 1895 Pennsylvania had 20 deputy inspectors (including 4 women)
for 39,339 factories.
From the forthcoming Tenth Annual Eeport of the Factory Inspect­
ors of New York is taken the following list of prosecutions in New York
City for violations of the law regulating the manufacture of clothing
in tenement workshops during the year 1895:
P E O S E C U T IO N S F O E V I O L A T I O N S OF T H E L A W E E G U L A T I N G T H E M A N U F A C T T T E E
OF C L O T H IN G I N T E N E M E N T W O E K S H O P S , N E W Y O E K C IT Y , 1895.

Offense.

W orking in
Tinnsos ______________________________ ___ ________ ______________
Em ploying children under 14 years o f age........ ....................................................................
H aving unclean w ater-closets__ . . . . . . ___. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _________ . . . ____ ______ _
H aving insuhip,ip.nt, wntiPr-closots- ___ _____ ____________ ______ _____ __________
Em ploying children w ithout certificates............................ ............................................... ......
W o rk in g m rear buildings w ithout p e rm it.................. - .............................. ..........................
Em ploying illiterate c h ild re n ____ _____ ______ . . . . . . ...................................................... . .
Overcrowding. .....................................................................
.......................................................
Obscene writing in water«closets.................... ...................................... ......................................
Total

.......................................................................................................................................

Cases.

Fines.

46
20
9
5
3
2
1
1
1

$875
330
325
140
80
50
30
20
20

88

1,870

The report for the State for 1894 shows that 10,425 notifications were
issued requiring changes to be made in or about the places visited, of
which the following represent the most important:
Factories ordered to stop overworking m in ors.............................................................
188
Children under 14 years of age ordered discharged.....................................................
182
Illiterate children under 16 years of age ordered discharged...................................
238
Elevators and hoistways ordered guarded........................................................................
587
Fire escapes ordered erected....................................................................................................
262
Machines ordered protected................................................................................................. 1, 320
Separate toilet rooms for women ordered....................................................................... 1,148
Factories ordered renovated.................................................................................................
638
Running water for workrooms ordered provided.........................................................
75
Buildings condemned as unsafe...........................................................................................
52
Ordered to cease making clothing in sweat shops.......................................................
718
Overcrowding ordered stopped...........................................................................................
53
Better ventilation ordered.........................................................................................................
118

Since the enactment of the law prohibiting manufacturing in homes
other than by members of the family, in 1892, and up to January, 1894
(one year and a half), there were erected 59 factory buildings on sites
formerly occupied by tenements swarming with people engaged in the




THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

369

manufacture of clothing. These new factory buildings were built
expressly to accommodate the clothing trade under the new conditions.
They contain 483 separate shops, and have legal space for 15,477 work
people. Besides this, 371 tenements, formerly used for both working
and living purposes, were cleared entirely of workers not members of
the families living therein, and these tenements are now used for
domestic purposes only. There were also 85 tenement buildings, which
were cleared of residents and remodeled into shop buildings. These
changes improved the condition of 17,147 persons who manufacture
clothing in New York City. This was during the “ hard times,” when
the trade was at a standstill, and the number of the persons given
as having had their conditions improved is very low. The figures were
obtained by actual count. But this relates only to their sanitary wel­
fare, and has nothing to do with the serious question of their ill-paid
labor.
The factory-inspection department of Massachusetts reported for
1895 the inspection of 5,069 manufacturing, mechanical, and mercan­
tile establishments in which 13,892 children were employed (302 of
these being between 13 and 14 years of age), and 232,317 adult males
and 157,122 adult females, making a total of 403,331. Orders were
issued to 2,905 workshojis.
The Pennsylvania inspection department reports the following work
done from December 1, 1893, to November 30, 1894:
Deputy inspectors on outside work...............................................................................
11
Inspections m ad e.................................................................................................................
4, 234
Males employed where inspections have been m ad e.............................................. 175? 791
Females employed where inspections have been made.......................................... 84, 945
Persons between 13 and 16 years of age employed where inspections have
been made........................................................................................................................... 22, 397
Children under 13 years of age found employed and discharged........................
21
Total employees in establishments that have been inspected............................ 260, 736
Sweat-shop inspections.......................................................................................................
648
Persons employed in sweat shops where inspections have been made..............
2,914
Orders given...........................................................................................................................
2, 516
Orders complied w ith.........................................................................................................
1,480

The Illinois report for the year 1894 shows by statistical tables the
inspection of 3,440 factories and workshops, employing 97,600 men,
24,335 women, and 8,130 children, a total of 130,065 employees. In 1893
there were inspected 2,362 factories and workshops, employing 52,480
men, 17,288 women, and 6,456 children, a total of 76,224 employees.
This shows an increase of 1,078 factories and workshops inspected,
employing 45,120 men, 7,047 women, and 1,674 children more than in
1893. Of the 3,440 places inspected in 1894, 1,437 were sweat shops*
employing 4,461 men, 5,921 women, and 721 children, an increase over
1893 of 733 shops, 2,250 men, 2,304 women, and 121 children.
The number 3,440 does not indicate the number of inspections made,
because some places have been inspected monthly and others semi­




370

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

monthly. On the other hand, no account is made in the tables of the
many places visited but not found working at any time during the year.
The above summaries, taken from the factory inspectors7 annual
reports, show much salutary work being done. Each one of the
cases enumerated is tabulated and separately described in voluminous
books indicating painstaking methods in the compiling of facts and the
enforcement of the laws. Each prosecution in addition serves as an
object lesson to other violators who take for granted that such laws
exist only to be ignored. It is evident that if factory inspection was
extended and the force of inspectors increased commensurate with the
vast importance of the work, many of the detrimental features of the
workshops would be removed, children of school age would be replaced
by adults in the factories, reasonable hours of labor would prevail, and
the health of the workers and of the public would be protected and fur­
ther reforms through the employees themselves would thus be rendered
easier.
The lack of uniformity in the factory laws of the different States
interferes very seriously with the efficiency of the laws enacted; and as
an inducement is given for sweaters to remove to States where more
leniency exists, sweat shops are thus spreading to localities where they
were never known. As a means of securing uniform legislation through­
out the country, the inspectors of thirteen States and two provinces of
Canada have formed the International Association of Factory Inspect­
ors, which has held nine annual conventions. In matters of factory
legislation their opinions based upon expert knowledge are of much con­
sequence.
A t the meeting of this association in Chicago, September, 1893, the
following resolution in reference to the restrictions of the hours of labor
was adopted:
Recognizing the inequality of the existing laws regulating the em­
ployment of women and minors in the different States and Territories,
and with a view of bringing into effect more uniformity in the same,
which would be just and profitable to all engaged in industrial pur­
suits; first, by placing the employers in the different States on an equal
basis of competition so far as hours of labor are concerned, and by
affording to the employed the same protection from the evils which
follow the overworking of women and children, wherever practiced;
therefore we recommend the adoption by the several States of laws reg­
ulating the hours of labor of women and minors to 48 per week.
The State of Illinois subsequently adopted the eight-hour law in
substance. An appeal was made to the supreme court, and in Novem­
ber, 1894, the part pertaining to women was declared unconstitutional,
.on the grounds that adult women were not wards of the State, that the
law gave special privileges to one sex as against the other, and was an
interference with the right of women to work longer than eight hours if
they choose or to contract for or dispose of their work. This decision
naturally handicaps further legislation in this direction.




THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

371

The opponents of factory legislation contend that this policy tends
to drive manufacturers from States enacting such laws by handicap­
ping and crippling industries in competition with the products of other
States not subject to these restrictions. If, for argument’s sake, it is
admitted that such laws interfere with cheapness, surely the benefits
accruing to the entire community by the prevention of injustice, by
the obliteration of sweating dens, and the protection of the health of
the people in general are worthy of greater consideration. As an
answer, however, to the first proposition, it is only necessary to refer
to the United States censuses of 1880 and 1890 to show that the State
of New York has actually doubled its manufacturing resources and
capacity, within that decade, notwithstanding the stringent factory
laws adopted, in which New York has been a pioneer. In 1880 the
census gives 42,739 factories, in 1890 65,840, and an increase of the
capital invested from $514,246,575 to $1,130,161,195. The same relative
increase is true of the other States having stricter factory legislation.
It is self-evident that the prosperity of a community depends upon
the increased productive and consumptive power of the people, and that
the impoverishment of a particular class of toilers is a disease of the
body politic which must be cured by such remedies as are available.
While the community was enacting measures for the alleviation of
the misery due to the sweat shop, and was seeking its suppression as
a public menace, the operatives themselves, whose poverty seemed to
have sapped their courage and mentality, became aroused, and after a
strike lasting three weeks abolished the worst features of the sweat­
ing evil. This strike was akin to a revolution in its suddenness and
sweep. It began in New York, Brooklyn, and Newark in September,
1894, and was continued in Boston and Baltimore. Similar disputes,
with varying success, occurred in Philadelphia, Bochester, Chicago,
and St. Louis.
Prior to this movement organization among the tailors existed and
large strikes took place, but all of a spasmodic nature. Some of these
contests were announced as victories, but the unions were unable to
maintain the advantages gained and suffered a relapse. But the
rebellious spirit was only dormant, waiting favorable opportunities.
In April, 1891, in New York City, the foundation for a successful
movement was laid through the formation of a national union compris­
ing all branches of the industry, known as the United Garment Workers
of America. The clothing cutters, who had a long trade-union experi­
ence, and were more favorably circumstanced, identified themselves
with this national movement, took an active interest, and thus gave
permanency to the organization.
A vigorous agitation was begun for the abolition of the sweating
system, but met with no immediate visible results. The industrial
prostration of 1893 and 1894 set in, and during that period the tailors
were reduced to a condition bordering on pauperism. Special relief




372

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

works were started in the large clothing cities to prevent actual starva­
tion. The task system sets no limitation, however, and the tasks were
so increased that the amount of work exacted from the few employed
further deprived others of work. When the revival in the trade came,
in August and September, 1894, the tailors had learned to exist some­
how without the task. The unions, which acted as relief bureaus
during the depression, issued a manifesto for the overthrow of the task
system and ordered a general strike. About 16,000 coat makers in 950
shops in New York, Brooklyn, and Newark responded. The competing
contractors, who were used by the manufacturers as implements to
increase the daily tasks, formed an association, but granted the demands
and signed individual agreements with the unions after the third week.
The terms granted provided for weekly work on a basis of ten hours
per day; a minimum rate of wages of from $9 to $15 per week, accord­
ing to the branch of work; no overtime to be permitted, and the employ­
ment of members of the union. So fearful were the now emancipated
operatives that the task system would be again returned, that every
contractor was obliged to furnish a real-estate bond as security that all
the terms of the agreement would be lived up to. The legal standing
of the agreements and bonds obtained are now under consideration by
the higher courts of New York through several test cases brought
against employers for violation of agreement.
The improvements made through these strikes can not be solely
estimated by the great material gain. Hope and ambition have taken
the place of the characteristic supineness of the clothing operative.
Since the first strike the agreements were renewed, with additions,
through another struggle the following year, and a few months ago
the organized contractors caused a lockout which was successfully
resisted. The other branches of the tailoring trade, although still
working under the piecework system, accomplished corresponding
results. It is estimated that 40,000 tailors, about 70 per cent of the
total number affected by the sweating system in the different cities,
are working in shops conducted under similar conditions, and in Boston
the work day is but nine hours. The hours of labor have been thus
shortened by from two to five hours per day, and this has had the
noticeable effect of prolonging the working seasons and giving steadier
employment. A number of small contractors were obliged to give up
their shops, owing to the refusal of the unions to make terms with
them. It is remarkable that the wholesale manufacturing trade has
not suffered through the increased cost of production because of the
uniformity of the increase, and the manufacturers have now expressed
themselves favorable to the change, which has removed much of the
odium from the trade and raised the method of manufacturing to a
higher plane. There are still many small shops hidden away in the
teeming tenements in which the sweating system exists, and these are
most difficult to reach, but the improved conditions obtained in the




THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

373

trade naturally have made an impression even there. While the State
factory laws prohibit manufacturing in rooms not separate from living
apartments, work still can be done by a family in the homes as long as
outside help is not employed. While this is very detrimental, still it
is limited.
It is specially worthy of note that the marked improvement made in
the condition of the clothing workers during the past two years has
been accomplished notwithstanding the comparative depression exist­
ing, the trade not having fully recovered from the general industrial
prostration which was at its worst between two and three years ago.
The number of unemployed in the trade has usually been large. There
was an improvement about a year ago, but a relapse has taken place
recently which has enabled the manufacturers to make encroachments
upon the standard rate of wages, hours of labor, etc., established and
maintained by the unions. This caused a very dissatisfied and restless
spirit. The clothing manufacturers in the different cities formed asso­
ciations to oppose the unions. This led to the recent large general
strikes in Baltimore, Chicago, and Cincinnati which began at the end
of February of this year and involved about 11,000 persons, including
all the branches of the trade, both cutters and tailors, of which number
7,400 were in Chicago, 3,300 in Baltimore, and 300 in Cincinnati. The
manufacturers in these three important clothing cities acted concertedly
and the contests were stubborn and prolonged. The manufacturers
naturally held the advantage, owing to the extreme dullness in the
trade.
The trouble originated with the cutters in each city. In Baltimore
the tailors stopped work mainly in support of the cutters, who demanded
recognition and the usual minimum rate of wages. The strike was
abandoned after five weeks. In Cincinnati the cutters’ union ordered
a strike in the shop of one firm and the other manufacturers resented
by locking out all the others. The unions thereupon declared for the
eight-hour workday. After seven weeks the cutters returned to work
individually after the manufacturers rescinded the resolution not to
employ members of the union.
In Chicago the Manufacturers’ Association precipitated the conflict
with the Cutters’ Union by declaring for the “ merit system” instead of
the minimum rate of wages, and the nine-hour workday in place of the
eight hours observed for three years. The tailors also made issue with
the contractors, were partially successful, and in shops employing about
2,300 persons enforced the ten-hour workday and minimum rate of wages
in place of the “ task” system. Ten firms, employing about 100 cutters
out of 900 in the city, conceded the terms of the union, and at the end
of the eighth week the others returned to work under the conditions
stipulated by the employers.
While the results of these contests which involved so many persons
are most unfavorable to the employee, this fact signifies only a check




374

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

to the many gains that have been made. The sweating system is being
grappled with in all earnestness, and all facts plainly show that this det­
rimental system of labor is steadily being suppressed, both in this and
in other countries. The reforms introduced in the tailor shops of this
country helped to stir up the tailors and seamstresses of Germany, who,
after immense strikes in the large cities in February last, succeeded in
effecting a compromise through a board of conciliation, by which the
manufacturers agreed to pay an increase of 12J per cent, and to fix a
list of minimum rates under which each of the various articles of cloth­
ing should not be given out either to contractors or workers. The con­
tractors agreed to pay the workers the full amount of the increase.
Manufacturers agreed not to deal with contractors who violated the
above conditions. Wages were to be paid weekly. The workers’ demand
for the erection of special workshops was withdrawn. These concessions
were granted to 34,000 persons.
Another factor used in the warfare waged against the sweating sys­
tem is the influence of the public as purchasers. Quite a number
of large manufacturers have been obliged to withdraw work sent to
sweating contractors, through the systematic appeals made by unions
of the trade upon members of other unions and sympathizers to with­
hold patronage from dealers handling or keeping such goods on sale.
Usually a retail clothier would cease dealing with an objectionable manu­
facturer rather than incur the opposition of patrons. In line with this
method the union label has been of service. It is designed to enable
sympathizers to distinguish and give preference to goods guaranteed
to be made under union, fair, and sanitary conditions. A number of
large manufacturers have adopted this label, which has been actively
agitated for during the past three years.
The substantial reform work being done in the clothing industry
both by legislation and the trade unions is doing much to correct the
evils resulting from the laissez-faire policy which regarded all such
interferences with free competition, so called, as pernicious and des­
potic. To-day the principle of factory legislation is seldom disputed,
but for nearly a century, ever since the advent of the factory system
in England, there has been a most vigorous and bitter contest waged
between the advocates and the opponents of factory laws. Some of
the ablest economists and legislators were arrayed against what was
called the pernicious interference with supply and demand, even in the
face of the degrading conditions existing in the workshops and the
mines. But surely and steadily the humanizing influences inspired by
Shaftsbury gained the ascendency, and now such protective legislation
as well as trade-union regulations are generally conceded to be bene­
ficial, as being conducive to more equity in the dealings of mankind
and therefore in accord with public policy.
Social theories and policies, as in physics, depend upon experimental
results for their value, and our perfected method of gathering data
does much to enable us to form more correct conclusions.



THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

375

Our methods of production resemble so closely those of England
that even the detrimental features are similar. In dealing with the
important question of the sweating system, a comparison made with the
sweating evil of England is therefore of value, and is applicable also
to every country manufacturing on a large scale.
The British Parliament, through a select committee of the House of
Lords, made a most searching investigation into the sweating system
and its causes and effects, and the exhaustive report published in 1890
gives a graphic description of tlie extent of the evil. Most of the
recommendations made by the committee have since been enacted into
law. The following extracts are taken from that report:
Our inquiry embraced—
I. The means employed to take advantage of the necessities of the
poorer and more helpless class of workers.
II. The’1conditions under which such workers live.
III. The causes that have conduced to the state of things disclosed.
IV. The remedies proposed.
Such having been the scope of our inquiry, and ample evidence hav­
ing been brought before us on every matter comprised within its scope,
we are of opinion that, although we can not assign an exact meaning
to u sweating,?? the evils known by that name are shown in the pages
o f the report to be, (1) an unduly low rate of wages; (2) excessive
hours of labor,* (3) the insanitary state of the houses in which the work
is carried on.
These evils can hardly be exaggerated. The earnings of the lowest
class of workers are barely sufficient to sustain existence. The hours
of labor are such as to make the lives of the workers periods of almost
ceaseless toil, hard and unlovely to the last degree.
The sanitary conditions under which the work is conducted are not
only injurious to the health of the persons employed, but are dangerous
to the public, especially in the case of the trades concerned in making
clothes, as infectious diseases are spread by the sale of garments made
in rooms inhabited by persons suffering from smallpox and other
diseases.
We make the above statements on evidence of the truth of which we
are fully satisfied, and we feel bound to express our ; dmiration of the
courage with which the sufferers endure their lot, of the absence of any
desire to excite pity by exaggeration, and of the almost unbounded
charity they display toward each other in endeavoring by gifts of food
and other kindnesses to alleviate any distress for the time being greater
than their own.
As a rule, however, it must be remembered that the observations
made with respect to sweating apply, in the main, to unskilled or only
partially skilled workers, as the thoroughly skilled workers can almost
always obtain adequate wages.
When we come to consider the causes of and the remedies for the
evils attending the conditions of labor which go under the name of
sweating, we are immediately involved in a labyrinth of difficulties.
First, we are told that the introduction of subcontractors, or middle­
men, is the cause of the misery. Undoubtedly, it appears to us that
employers are regardless of the moral obligations which attach to cap­
ital when they take contracts to supply articles and know nothing of
the condition of the workers by whom such articles are made, leaving
to a subcontractor the duty of selecting the workers, and giving him




376

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

by way of compensation a portion of the profit. But it seems to ns
that the middleman is the consequence, not the cause of the evil 5 the
instrument, not the hand which gives motion to the instrument, which
does the mischief.
Machinery, by increasing the subdivision of labor, and consequently
affording great opportunities for the introduction of unskilled labor, is
also charged with being the cause of sweating. The answer to this
charge seems to be, that in some of the largest clothing and other fac­
tories in which labor is admitted to be carried on under favorable con­
ditions to the workers, machinery and subdivision of labor to the
greatest possible extent, are found in every department of the factory.
With more truth it may be said that the inefficiency of many of the
lower class of workers, early marriages and the tendency of the
residuum of the population in large towns to form a helpless commu­
nity, together with a low standard of life and the excessive supply of
unskilled labor, are the chief factors in producing sweating. More­
over, a large supply of cheap female labor is available in consequence
of the fact that married women working at unskilled labor in their
homes, in the intervals of attendance on their domestic duties and not
wholly supporting themselves, can afford to work at what would be
starvation wages to unmarried women. Such being the conditions of
the labor market, abundant materials exist to supply an unscrupulous
employer with his wretched dependent workers.
The most important question is whether any remedy can be found for
this unhappy state of a portion of the laboring class. With respect to
the low wages and excessive hours of labor, we think that good may be
effected by cooperative societies and combination amongst the workers.
W e are aware that home workers form a great obstacle in the way of
combination, inasmuch as they can not readily be brought to combine
for the purpose of raising wages. To remove this obstacle we have
been urged to recommend the prohibition by legislation of working at
home; but we think such a measure would be arbitrary and oppressive.
W e now proceed to make recommendations in respect of the evils,
which appear to us, under existing circumstances, to require immediate
Parliamentary interference.
Under the factory law work places for the purposes of sanitation are
divided into three classes—(1) factories; (2) workshops; (3) domestic
workshops.
We are of opinion that all work places included under the above
descriptions should be required to be kept in a cleanly state, to be limewashed or washed throughout at stated times, to be kept free from
noxious effluvia, and not to be overcrowded; in other words to be
treated for sanitary purposes as factories are treated under the factory
law.
We are also of the opinion that as respects administration an ade­
quate number of inspectors should be appointed to enforce a due
observance of the law. It has been suggested that the inspector should
be assisted by workmen having practical knowledge of the trades
inspected, and paid only the wages of artisans, but we doubt whether
the disadvantages arising from the division of responsibility would not
outweigh any advantages to be derived from their technical knowledge.
We think that inspectors should have power to enter all work places
within their jurisdiction at reasonable times without a warrant.
We consider that the establishment of county councils provides in
every county a body capable of being trusted with the superintendence
of the inspection by sanitary authorities and of making such inspection
efficient.



THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

377

To carry into effect tlie foregoing* recommendations, amendments will
be required of tlie factory and workshop act, 1878, the public health act,
1875, and the local government act, 1888.
We are of the opinion that greater facilities should be given to fac­
tory inspectors for inspecting the work places within their jurisdiction
by registration of owners, or by requiring notice to be given to the
inspectors of the establishment of new work places and the discontin­
uance of old. Some means should also be devised for enabling sani­
tary inspectors to discover readily the names and addresses of the
owners of insanitary work places and houses.
We think it a disadvantage that different Departments of the Gov­
ernment should be concerned with matters relating to the labor ques­
tion. The factory inspectors are appointed by and under the control of
the home office. The board of trade supplies the public, through its
labor correspondent, with information as to the conditions of labor and
the state of the industrial classes, and requires for that purpose the aid
and cooperation of the factory inspectors. The local government board
have a medical department, which, for the purpose of promoting hygi­
ene, ought to be in constant communication with the factory inspectors.
We suggest that it would be advisable to bring the officers employed
in the above-mentioned functions into closer relations with each other
by placing them under the control of one department, or otherwise
providing them with a unity of administration.
We have received considerable evidence attributing, to the disuse of
the apprenticeship system, the incompleteness of the education of the
workman. The remedies suggested are, on the one hand, a renewal of
the apprenticeship system; and, on the other, the promotion of a larger
system of technical education. We think that the encouragement of
technical education for all classes of artisans is more likely to prove an
efficient remedy than a recurrence to the old system of apprenticeship.
We are of the opinion that it is incumbent on all Departments of the
Government and on municipal and other public bodies to take care
that in placing their contracts they are satisfied that the workmen by
whom the contract is to be worked out are paid proper wages. We
recommend this course not only in the interest of the workman, but
also in the belief that it will insure to the public a corresponding
advantage in the excellence of the work. This recommendation may
be effected by requiring the contractor to show the scale of wages
which he proposes to pay, and, supposing such scale to be satisfactory,
by having copies served on the workmen, or otherwise making known
to them the rate of wages to be paid.
We can not conclude without expressing our earnest hope that the
exposure of evils which have been brought to our notice will induce
capitalists to pay closer attention to the conditions under which the
labor which supplies them with goods is conducted, and that the public
will withhold their custom from traders who are known to conduct
their business on a system which regards neither the welfare of the
workman nor the quality of the work produced.
The following is a brief summary of some of the provisions of the fac­
tory and workshop acts from 1878 to 1895, enacted by Parliament, which
particularly apply to sweat shops:
Every factory, workshop, or laundry must be kept clean, well venti­
lated, free from bad smells and overcrowding, and at a reasonable tem­
perature. Not less than 250 cubic feet of space (100 in overtime) must
be allowed for each worker,



378

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

In all factories and steam laundries the duty of seeing that these
provisions are carried out belongs to the factory inspector, in work­
shops and hand laundries, to the local sanitary authority.
The working hours are variously limited for children, young persons,
and women. A “ child” means a person between 11 and 14 years of
age 5a “ young person” means a person between 14 and 18 years of age;
a “ woman” means a woman of 18 years of age and upward. The
period of employment for young persons and women in factories and
workshops is limited to the hours between 6 a. m. and 6 p. in., or 7 a.
m. and 7 p. m., or 8 a. m. and 8 p. m. In textile factories two hours
must be allowed for meals (one of them before 3 p. m.), and work must
not be carried on for more than two and one-half hours without an inter­
val of one-half hour for meals. In nontextile factories and workshops
one and one-half hours must be allowed for meals (one of them before
3 p. m.), and work must not be carried on for more than five hours with­
out an interval of one-half hour for meals. In textile factories when
work begins on Saturdays at 6 a. m. manufacturing processes must
cease at 1 p. m. if not less than one hour is allowed for meals. If less
than one hour is allowed for meals, manufacturing processes must cease
at 12.30 p. m. When work begins at 7 a. m. manufacturing processes
must cease at 1.30 p. m. In nontextile factories and workshops the
hours of employment on Saturdays may be between 6 a. m. and 2 p. m,,
or 7 a. m. and 3 p. m., or 8 a. m. and 4 p. m. In every case an interval
of not less than one-half hour must be allowed for meals.
Children employed in factories and workshops may only work half­
time, that is, either in the morning or afternoon or on alternate days.
Special provisions with regard to employment on Saturday and Sun­
day are made for young persons and women of the Jewish religion.
Employment outside a factory or workshop, in the business of that
factory or workshop, before or after working on the same day inside, is
forbidden for children. It is also forbidden for young persons and
women who are employed inside both before and after the dinner hour.
Work given out, or allowed to be taken out, is treated as employment
on that day.
The occupier of a factory or workshop or laundry may not, to his
knowledge, employ a woman within four weeks after she has given
birth to a child.
Notice must be sent to the inspector within one month of the time
when work is begun in any factory or workshop.
All occupiers of existing workshops must, before the expiration of
twelve months from January 1, 1896 (unless they have already done
so), send their names and addresses, and particulars of the work car­
ried on in such workshops, to the inspector.
On any evening when it is intended that women shall work overtime
notice must be sent to the inspector before 8 p. m.
An abstract of the factory and workshop acts, with the names and
addresses of the inspector and surgeon of the district, the hours of
employment and times of meals, also a notice stating the total cubic
space and the number of persons who may be employed, must be affixed
in every factory, workshop, and laundry in such a position as to be
easily read. Occupiers of “ domestic workshops” are not required to
send or affix notices.
The occupier of every factory and workshop, and every contractor
employed by such occupier, shall, if the trade is included in the order
of the home secretary, keep lists of the names and addresses of all
persons employed as outworkers, such lists to be open to inspection




THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

379

by an officer of a sanitary authority, or any inspector under the act;
also, he shall on or before the 1st of March and the 1st of September
in each year, send such lists to the inspector of the district. This reg­
ulation includes as a u workshop” anyplace from which wearing apparel
is given out to be made.
Any person obstructing or delaying an inspector in the performance
of his duty is subject to a penalty of not more than £5 ($24.33), or
when the offense is committed at night £20 ($97.33). It is deemed that
an inspector is obstructed if a child, young person, or woman is con­
cealed or prevented from appearing before an inspector, or if any person
fails to comply with a requisition of the inspector made in accordance
with the act.
For not complying with any of the foregoing provisions the act has
fixed penalties which may be inflicted when a conviction is obtained.
The English factory laws have the advantage of being applied uni­
formly throughout the country, while in the United States the efficiency
of the laws are much interfered with by the separate legislation enacted
in each State, but there is a tendency in the manufacturing States to
adopt more harmonious laws in this respect, and while they compare
favorably with the English factory acts they are not so exacting. As
the population of Great Britain is generally more homogeneous and set­
tled, the industrial conditions not being so changeable, the enforce­
ment of the factory laws are thus rendered easier. In dealing with the
sweating evil, however, the same conditions are apparent. In the very
large cities there is a large, helpless, dependent population, and much
overcrowding, caused mainly through immigration and the tendency of
the rural population to migrate to the large cities. Englishmen are
thus forced in turn to emigrate to other countries.
3687—No. 4-----4




RECENT

REPORTS OF STATE

BUREAUS OF LABOR STATISTICS.

MASSACHUSETTS.
Twenty-fifth Annual Report o f the Bureau of Statistics of Labor. March,
1895. Horace G. Wadlin, Chief, xvii, 337 pp.
This report treats of the following subjects: Compensation in cer­
tain occupations of graduates of colleges for women, 47 pages; the dis­
tribution of wealth, 254 pages; labor chronology, 33 pages.
Compensation in Certain O ccupations of G raduates of Col­
W omen.—This investigation was not confined to graduates

leges for

of colleges, and is more accurately described as u The compensation in
certain occupations of women who have received college or other
special training.” The presentation is based upon an investigation
conducted by a committee of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.
There were 451 schedules received from women employees and 104
from employers of women. These returns were distributed as follows:
Massachusetts, 59; Minnesota, 55; Connecticut, 44; Rhode Island, 40;
California, 61; New York, 90; Indiana, 39; Illinois, 14; and the remain­
ing 153 from various other States.
Of the schedules received from employees, 437 contained information
concerning occupation, residence, and conjugal condition, and the
totals are summarized as follows:
R E S ID E N C E a n d

co njug al
leg e

c o n d it io n
or o th er

of w o m e n

s p e c ia l

w h o

h a v e

t r a in in g

r e c e iv e d

col­

.

Residence.
Conjugal condition.

Total.
A t home.

Elsewhere.

209
24
11

180
4
9

889
28
20

244

193

437

Rinp'lft_______________ _
____________________________________
_____
M arried ....................................................................................................................
"Widowod . .
___
__ . ________ - _______
______________
T o ta l_____

Seventy-eight of the women from whom schedules were received
failed to state their age. The others are classified according to age
periods, and 313 were 20 but under 40 years of age.
The following statement gives the totals of the answers to questions
concerning occupation and means of support:
O C C U P A T IO N A N D M E A N S OF SU P P O R T O F W O M E N W H O H A V E R E C E IV E D C O L L E G E
OR O T H E R S P E C IA L T R A I N I N G .
Answ er.
Question.
V e s.
H ave you any remunerative occupation besides your
main w ork ?.......................................................................................
A r e you occupied with domestic or other outside cares ? ..
D o your wages supply your entire support?.........................

380



338
117
350

N o.

74
289
43

N ot
answered.

39
45
58

Total.

451
451
451

REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR---- MASSACHUSETTS.

381

Of the whole number of women reporting, 6 were paid less than $25
per month; 88, $25 and under $50; 144, $50 and under $75; 88, $75
and under $ 100; 73, $100 and under $200; 2, $200 and under $300,
and 2 a salary in excess of $300 per month. Forty-eight failed to
answer the questions concerning compensation.
One hundred and fifty reports stated that men received more pay
than women for the same grade of work, 95 reported the same pay for
women and men, while 5 reported that men received less pay than
women, and 201 failed to answer the question.
It is alleged as one of the reasons for paying women less than men
in similar employments that a man is called upon to support others
besides himself, while, as a rule, women in industry do not aid in the
support of others. Of the 379 women who answered the question on
this subject 157, or 41.42 per cent, aided in the support of others.
Another reason given is that women do not remain continuously in one
employment. Of the 333 who answered the question on this subject
214 had been in but 1 employment, their average term of service
being seven years and eight months, 88 had been in 2 employments,
19 in 3, 9 in 4, 2 in 5, and 1 in 8 employments since beginning work.
There were 4,097 males and 3,097 females, a total of 7,794 persons
employed by the employers who made returns. Ninety employers
replied to the question, “ Are the services of men and women equally
valuable to you1?” Of this number 46 answered yes, 29 no, and 7
indefinitely, while 8 stated that for some work they were as desirable
and for other work they were not.
Out of 67 replies, 29 indicate that the fact of supply and demand, or
competition, is one reason for the difference in compensation of the
sexes, while 21 consider physical and mental differences, or differences
in general ability, to be the real reason. In 17 replies no other reason
than custom is offered.
The statistics summarized in the above statements are shown in the
report by occupations, so that the conditions prevailing in each indus­
try can be determined, and are followed by condensed text statements
of the opinions of both employees and employers.
The D istribution of W ealth .— Of the 254 pages devoted to this
subject, 218 contain statistical tables. The information presented is
intended to form part of a general inquiry into wealth distribution,
and in fact simply covers the initial stage of a projected investigation
upon that subject. The statistics were obtained from the records of the
probate courts of the State and cover four periods of three years each,
viz, 1829 to 1831, 1859 to 1861, 1879 to 1881, and 1889 to 1891.
The probate courts of the State administer substantially all the estates
of persons who die possessing property worth taking account of. The
estates of which no trace can be obtained m these courts are almost
entirely very small. In a number of instances no inventory is filed
when the estate is admitted to probate. For this reason it is impossi­




382

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

ble to determine the total value of all property admitted to probate,
and to that extent the value of the statistics is limited. The following
statement indicates exactly how far this limitation affects the results:
P R O B A T E S P I L E D W I T H A N D W I T H O U T IN V E N T O R IE S , B Y S E L E C T E D P E R IO D S.
Inventory filed.

Inventory not filed.

Period.

Total.
Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.

1829
1859
1879
1889

to
to
to
to

1831
1861
1881
1891

(3 years).............................................................
(3 years).............................................................
(3 years).............................................................
(3 years).............................................................

T otal...............................................................................

3, 698
6, 922
11,142
14, 608
36,370 !

1

76. 95
70.13
65. 56
57.97

1,108
2, 948
5, 854
10, 592

23.05
29.87
34.44
42. 03

4,806
9, 870
16,996
25,200

63.95

20,502

36.05

56, 872

For the State as a whole, and for each county except Dukes, it
appears that in recent years the number of probates registered with­
out inventories has considerably increased, and in the comparison of
the values for different periods this should be borne in mind. It is
probably true that the estates unaccompanied by inventories are, as a
rule, larger than those for which inventories are filed. In the following
statements only inventoried probates are referred to, and the total for
the State by periods considered. The statistics are shown in the
report by counties for the different years.
The total number and value of probates, classified according to the
sex of the deceased, are shown in the following statement:
NUM BER

AND

V A L U E OP I N V E N T O R I E D E S T A T E S P R O B A T E D D U R I N G E A C H
S E L E C T E D P E R IO D , B Y S E X O P D E C E A S E D .
M ales.

Period.

1829
1859
1879
1889

Pemales.

Value.
N um ­
ber.

Total.

V alue.

Total.

A v er­
age.

N um ­
ber.

Value.

Total.

A v e r­
age.

Num ­
ber.

Total.

A ver­
age.

1831..
1861..
1881..
1891..

3.102
5.103
7, 030
8, 349

$13, 500, 099
45, 847,981
114, 747,943
114. 032, 780

$4,352
8, 985
16,323
13, 658

596
1,819
4,112
6, 259

$994, 008
7,408,813
22,626, 316
41,526,008

$1, 668
4,073
5, 503
6, 635

3,698
6,922
11,142
14, 608

$14,494,107
53,256,794
137,374,259
155,558, 788

$3,919
7,694
12,329
10, 649

T o ta l..

23, 584

288,128, 803

12, 217

12, 786

72,555,145

5, 675

36, 370

360, 683,948

9,917

to
to
to
to

Out of the 36,370 probates represented by inventories, 14,310 were
testate and 22,060 were intestate. In the first period considered, 74.34
per cent of the probates were intestate; the percentages in the other
three periods being, respectively, as follows: 64.07, 57.06, and 58.31.
The larger number of the estates were distributed without disposition
by will—that is, to heirs in accordance with the provisions of the stat­
utes—but the tendency to dispose of estates by will appears to increase.
Of the total number of estates considered, 35,304, or 97.07 per cent,
were solvent, and 1,066, or 2.93 per cent, were insolvent. In the threeyear period ending with 1831, 8.14 per cent of the probates were insol­
vent, the percentages for the other periods being 3.77, 2.52, and 1.53,
respectively.




383

REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR---- MASSACHUSETTS.

The inventoried probates are classified in the following statement
with respect to the value of real and personal estate:
DUM BER

A N D V A L U E OE I N V E N T O R I E D R E A L A N D
P R O B A T E D , B Y S E L E C T E D P E R IO D S .

PE R SO NA L

Real estate.
Period.

Personal estate.

Value.

N um ­
ber.

Total.

ESTATES

Value.

N um ­
ber.

Average.

Total.

Average.

years)...................................
y ea rs)...................................
years)...................................
years)...................................

2, 257
4,526
6,872
9,157

$7, 059, 947
21, 754, 769
44,273,982
60,190, 946

$3,128
4, 807
6,443
6, 573

3, 624
6, 665
10,600
13, 334

$7,434,160
31,502, 025
93,100,277
95, 367,842

$2, 051
4,726
8,783
7,152

T o t a l.....................................................

22,812

133, 279, 644

5, 843

34, 223

227,404,304

6, 645

1829 to
1859 to
1879 to
1889 to

1831
1861
1881
1891

(3
(3
(3
(3

The total property represented in all of the probates considered is
presented in the following statement by classes. Within the classes
shown, averages are given applicable to each class, estates of approxi­
mately the same value being averaged together. In order that the
basis of this average may be clearly seen, the number of estates within
each class is shown, with the aggregate value which these estates
represent:
NUM BER

AND

VALUE

OE I N V E N T O R I E D E S T A T E S P R O B A T E D
SE L E C T E D P E R IO D S, B Y C L A S S E S .

Males.
Class.

Under $500.................................
$500 but under $1,000............
$1,000 but under $5,000........
$5,000 but under $10,000----$10,000 but under $25,000...
$25,000 but under $50,000...
$50,000 but under $100,000..
$100,000 but under $200,000.
$200,000 but under $300,000.
$300,000 but under $400,000.
$400,000 but under $500,000.
$500,000 and o v e r.....................

Females.

Value.
Num ­
ber.

4, 301
2, 649
9,415
3,178
2, 286
807
479
249
88
43
25
64

Total.

^age.
™ r'

$950,182
$221
1,938, 257
732
23, 423, 433 2, 488
22,176, 399 6, 978
35,701,145 15,617
27,956,000 34,642
33,343,881 69,611
34,146, 659 137, J35
21,314,303 242, 208
14,787, 010 343,884
11,266,481 450, 659
61,125,053 955, 079

Total.

Value.

A v e r­
age.

2, 654 $655,193
$247
1, 963 1, 415, 692
721
5,471 12, 739, 018 2, 328
1, 304 8,998,485 6,901
899 13,453, 932 14, 965
293 9, 930, 463 33,892
121 8, 731, 739 72,163
54 7,171,567 132, 807
12 3, 024, 924 252,077
10 3, 321, 683 332,168
2
841,173 420, 587
3 2, 271, 276 757, 092

T o ta l................................. 23, 584 288,128,803! 12,217 12,786 72, 555,145

FO U R

Total.

Value.
N um ­
ber.

D U R IN G

N um ­
ber.

6, 955
4,612
14, 886
4,482
3,185
1,100
600
303
100
53
27
67

Total.
$1, 605, 375
$231
3,353, 949
727
36,162,451! 2,429
31,174, 884| 6, 956
49,155,077 15,433
37,886,463| 34,442
42, 075, 620( 70,126
41, 318, 226 136, 364
24, 339.227 243,392
18,108,693 341,673
12,107, 654448,432
63, 396, 329 946, 214

5, 675 36, 370 360,683,948;

9,917

The report contains tables similar to the above for the different years,
periods, and counties. For the three-year period ending with 1831 the
average value of all inventoried probates was $3,919, but 1?431, or not
quite half of the 3,698 estates considered, were valued at less than $500,
and two estates were of greater value than $500,000. Comparing these
figures with the three-year period ending with 1891, in which 14,608
estates with an average value of $10,649 were considered, it appears
that 2,217, or about one-seventh, were valued at less than $500, while
30 estates exceeded $500,000 in value.




384

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The average value of the real and personal estates of males and
females, respectively, is shown for the classes given in the above state­
ment by counties for each year and period covered by the report. The
following statement reproduces the average values given for real and
personal estates, respectively^ by periods of years :
A V E R A G E V A L U E OF I N V E N T O R I E D R E A L A N D P E R S O N A L E S T A T E S P R O B A T E D
D U R I N G E A C H S E L E C T E D P E R IO D , B Y C LA S SE S.

Real estate.
Class.

U nder $500.............................................
$500 but under $1,000.........................
$1,000 bu t under $5,000.....................
$5,000 but under $10,000...................
$10,000 but under $25,000.................
$25,000 but under $50,000.................
$50,000 but under $100,000...............
$100,000 but under $200,000............
$200,000 but under $300,000............
$300,000 but under $400,000.............
$400,000 bu t under $500,000.............
$500,000 and over.................................
T o t a l...........................................

1829 to
1831.

1859 to
1861.

1879 to
1881.

Personal estate.
1889 to
1891.

1829 to
1831.

1859 to
1861.

1879 to
1881.

1889 to
1891.

$220
$238
$233
$249
$182
$202
$210
725
721
713
717
706
717
718
2, 317
2, 326
2, 397
2, 394
2,066
2,197
2, 275
6,803
6, 727
6, 801
6, 796
6, 824
7,039
6, 864
15,176 15,132 14, 980 14, 956 15,249 14, 942
15,583
33, 859 33,731 34, 045 33,680 34, 736 35,196
34, 639
60, 944 66, 812 71, 348 69, 913 64, 412 67, 210
69,720
179,000 139. 754 132, 828 141, 873 127, 087 140, 895
142, 340
257, 411 237,310 246, 897 231, 825 236, 371 226, 614
246, 235
341, 779 348,690 339,503
326,368
339,600
422, 900 439,142
449, 316
437, 330
845, 939 758,063 595,194 866, 225 1,141, 034
3,128

4, 807

6,443

6, 573

2, 051

4, 726

8, 783

$209
713
2, 285
7, 071
15, 366
35, 216
70,795
137, 549
251. 260
344, 540
437, 344
713,294
7,152

In the following statement real and personal property have been com­
bined and similar averages shown, together with the number of pro­
bates in each class:
N U M B E R A N D A V E R A G E V A L U E OF I N V E N T O R I E D E S T A T E S P R O B A T E D
SE L E C T E D P E R IO D S, B Y C L A S S E S .

1829 to 1831.
Class.

Under $500.............................................
$500 but under $1,000........................
$1,000 bu t under $5,000.....................
$5,000 but under $10,000..................
$10,000 but under $25,000.................
$25,000 but under $50,000.................
$50,000 but under $100,000...............
$100,000 but under $200,000............
$200,000 but under $300,000............
$300,000 but under $400,000............
$400,000 but under $500,000............
$500,000 and over.................................
T o t a l ...........................................




N um ­
ber.

A v e r­
age
value.

$186
1,431
463
732
1, 274
2, 372
6, 799
295
157. 15, 455
42 35,170
25 73,166
6 134, 244
2 326, 032
1 415, 371
2 633,909
3, 698

3, 919

1859 to 1861.
N um ­
ber.

A ver­
age
value.

1, 485
960
2, 827
797
507
168
92
52
18
7
3
6

$233
726
2, 403
6, 909
15, 361
34, 880
69, 448
128,908
237, 513
340, 995
474, 523
848,109

6,922

7, 694

1879 to 1881.

D U R IN G

1889 to 1891.

Average
value.

Num ­
ber.

A v e r­
age
value.

1,822
$245
1,451
722
2, 458
4, 588
1, 421
6, 988
1, 023
15, 443
410
33, 986
218
70, 497
111
139, 638
239, 809
37
22
346, 316
10
438, 342
29 1,144, 758

2,217
1,738
6,197
1, 969
1, 498
480
265
134
45
22
13
30

$247
731
2, 432
6, 974
15,449
34, 615
69, 769
136, 639
248,690
339, 215
452, 715
794, 729

14, 608

10, 649

N um ­
ber.

11,142

12, 329

385

REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR---- MASSACHUSETTS.

If $50,000 is arbitrarily assumed as the dividing line between large
and small estates, the following statement shows the number, value, and
average value of probates above and below the line, respectively, for
the different periods:
ESTATES

P R O B A T E D A N D IN V E N T O R IE D A B O V E A N D
B Y S E L E C T E D P E R IO D S.

B E L O W $50,000 I N

Number.
Period and classification.
Total.

Per cent,

{

j

VALUE,

Value.
Total.

Average.

1829 to 1831.
Under $50,000.........................................................................................
$50,000 and over................................................................................... .

3, 662
36

99. 03
0. 97

$9, 536, 245
4, 957, 862

$2, 604
137,718

T o t a l .............................................................................................

3, 698

100. 00

14, 494,107

3,919

1859 to 1861.
Under $50 000.......... - ............................................................................
$50,000 and over.....................................................................................

6,744
178

97. 43
2.57

26, 989, 881
26, 266, 913

4,002
147,567

T o t a l .............................................................................................

6, 922

100. 00

53, 256, 794

7, 694

1879 to 1881.
Under $50,000.........................................................................................
$50,000 and over.....................................................................................

10,715
427

96.17
3. 83

52, 432, 701
84, 941.558

4, 893
198,926

T o t a l .............................................................................................

11,142

100. 00

137,374,259

12, 329

1889 to 1891.
Under $50,000.........................................................................................
$50,000 and over.....................................................................................

14, 099
509

96. 52
3.48

70, 379, 372
85,179, 416

4,992
167. 347

T o ta l.............................................................................................

14, 608

100.00

155,558, 788

10, 649

The total amount represented by the estates above the $50,000 line
in the three-year period ending with 1831 was only slightly in excess of
one-half the total amount represented by the estates below the line.
In the three-year period ending with 1891, the value of the estates
above the line was 54.76 per cent and the value of those below the line
45.24 per cent of the total value of all the estates considered.
The average holding in the estates below the line nearly doubled in
the sixty years, while the number of persons who died worth less
than $50,000 in the last period was nearly four times as great as in
the first. The deceased owners of these estates represented one person
in every 476 of the population in the period centering in 1890 and one
in every 500 in the period centering in 1830. The average holding in
the estates above the line has only exhibited a moderate increase, while
the number of persons who died worth $50,000, or over, during the
period centering in 1890, was more than 14 times as great as during the
period centering in 1830. There was but one such inventoried estate
probated in every 50,867 of the population in 1830, as against one in
every 13,170 in 1890.




386

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

In order to enable a comparison of the probate statistics with those
showing death, tables are introduced which give the total number of
deaths by sex for the different counties for each year covered by the
three periods from 1859 to 1891. The totals for the State are summa­
rized as follows •
T O T A L D E A T H S I N T H E S T A T E , B Y S E L E C T E D PE R IO D S.

Period.

Deaths.

68,129
103, 551
130,490

1859 to 1861 (3 years)
1879 to 1881 (3 years)
1889 to 1891 (3 years)

302,170

Total.

Out of 68,129 deaths in the State during the three year$ 1859 to 1861
there were registered 6,744 inventoried estates below $50,000 in value,
and 178 estates above. Out of 130,490 deaths during the three years
1889 to 1891 there were registered 14,099 inventoried estates below
$50,000 in value, and 509 estates above.
L abor Chronology .—Under this title the resolutions and other
actions of the labor organizations throughout the State on various
subjects are grouped by dates.
MISSOURI.
Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State
o f Missouri, being fo r the year ending November 1, 1895. Lee Meri­
wether, Commissioner. 354, v pp.
The following are the subjects treated in this report: Truck stores
and “ checks,” 87 pages; machine versus hand labor, 5 pages; fran­
chises and taxation, 4 pages; surplus products, 3 pages; Plasterers’
Union, Kansas City, 18 pages; factory inspection, 48 pages; statis­
tics of manufactures, 169 pages. An appendix of 12 pages contains a
synopsis of Missouri laws relating to labor.
The presentation concerning truck stores and “ checks,” machine
versus hand labor, franchises and taxation, and the Plasterers’ Union
of Kansas City, consists almost entirely of a textual discussion. The
truck-store system is explained and remedies suggested. A brief
account is given of an investigation made by the bureau in September,
1895, respecting the system as conducted in Missouri and the efforts
made to have legal proceedings instituted against those who were vio­
lating the laws on this subject. The opinions of the courts in four
leading cases, construing State laws relating to checks and truck stores,
are given in full.
The displacement of labor by reason of the introduction of type­
setting machines is treated. The evidence taken by the commissioner
and his decision on investigating certain charges against the Plas­
terers’ Union of Kansas City made by nonunion men, and as to the
condition of the cigar business in that city, are given.



REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR— MISSOURI.

387

Surplus P roducts.—The statistics showing the surplus agricul­
tural products and other commodities shipped from each county during
1894 are presented in the form of a map, in which the quantities of the
different products are printed in the respective counties. The totals
for some of the principal products are given in the following statement:
SU R P L U S P R O D U C T S. 1894.

Product.

Quantity.

bu sh els..
.pounds..

A p p le s............ .
B utter..............
Canned goods
Cattle.............. .
C o rn ................
E g g s ................ .
F la x ...................
F lo u r................
H id e s ...............
H o g s ................
L o g s ................ .
L u m b e r..........
Poultry............
W h e a t ............
W o o l.................

b u sh els..
.pounds..
.barrels..
,pounds..
....d o ....
.pounds..
bushels..
.p ou n d s..

1,406, 048
2, 810, 880
33,461,155
864, 823
10,960, 732
23, 765, 835
20,136,336
2, 676, 277
6, 755,177
2, 596, 077
39,042, COO
296,130,430
44,160, 662
12, 203, 502
2, 503, 660

I Counties
j marketing.
71
94
12
107
91
107
17
90
91
107
33
97
107
92
86

F actory I nspection .— Statistics under this title are shown for 8
cities throughout the State, in which 600 establishments employing
15,877 men, 10,517 women, 1,431 boys over 12 and under 18 years of
age, 1,590 girls over 14 and under 18, 10 boys under 12, and 88 girls
under 14 were inspected. There were 554 establishments in operation
on full time, 45 less than full time, and 1 closed entirely; 252 with full
force, 179 with less than full force, and 169 part of the time with full
force of employees. The statistics are shown in detail for each
establishment inspected.
Statistics of Manufactures .— Schedules were sent to 3,000
manufacturers, and of this number 864 made returns sufficiently com­
plete to be presented in the report. The statistics are shown in detail
for each industry. The following statement gives the totals for St.
Louis, Kansas City, the State exclusive of these cities, and the total:
S T A T I S T I C S OF M A N U F A C T U R E S , 1895,

Items.

St. Louis.

Kansas City.

State, exclu­
sive of the
two cities.

Total for
State

Corporations.....................................
Private firm s.....................................

283
297

40
69

59
116

382
482

T o t a l .........................................
Capital in vested ...............................
Value of buildings and grounds
Value of m ach in ery.......................
Cost of m aterials.............................
Cost o f su p p lies...............................
Selling value of goods m ad e___
Clerks and salesm en.......................
Salaries.................................................
W a g e earners.....................................
W a g e s ...................................................

580
$64,539,206
$28, 034,990
$10,978, 386
$46,173,357
$5,485, 690
$89,727,625
3, 370
$4,283,449
34, 821
$14,810,075
54, 506

109
$4, 845,100
$2,882, 296
$1, 285, 408
$10,217,655
$1, 035, 099
$14, 617.585
417
$493,835
4,144
$1,726,437
5,412

175
$6,233, 170
$1, 857, 322
$1,582,894
$5, 079, 013
$473,560
$9.503,853
449
$517, 667
4,041
$1,317, 516
7,094

864
$75, 617,476
$32,774,608
$13,846, 688
$61,470, 025
$7,044,349
$113,849,063
4, 236
$5,294, 951
43. 006
$17, 854,028
67.012

Horsepoweremployed...........

With a view to giving statements concerning wages that may be con­
sidered fairly accurate, the pay rolls of 16 factories throughout the



388

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

State were carefully examined, and the amount received by each indi­
vidual employee noted. In this manner there was obtained the actual
amount received in 15 different industries, by 4,401 employees, 3,098 of
whom were men and 1,303 women. The average daily income is shown
for the different occupations in each industry. Comparison is also
made of the daily incomes in certain industries as shown by the reports
of 1890 and 3895. The daily income during 1895 is further indicated
by assigning the employees in the different occupations of the various
industries to classes according to the amount of income from 50 cents
to $5. The average daily income and the estimated net yearly wages
of each employee in the different occupations in each industry is given
with the average wages received for each working day, amount received
for days worked, number of days worked, and number of working days
in period considered.
UTAH.
First Triennial Report of the Bureau o f Statistics of Utah, fo r the year
ended December 31, 1894, with Census, 1895. Joseph P. Bache, Statis­
tician; H. W. Griffith, Chief Clerk. 54 pp.
The bureau issuing this report was organized under an act of the
legislature of the Territory, approved March 10,1892, which designates
the statistical year as 1895, and each triennial year thereafter, defines
the duties of the Territorial statistician, indicates the character of the
statistics to be gathered, and provides for the publication of the reports
for each statistical year.
The statistics are presented in detail for cities, towns, and counties.
The totals are shown in the following summaries:
P O P U L A T IO N , 1895.

Males......................................................................................................................................... 126,803
F em ales................................................................................................................................... 120, 521
Native born............................................................................................................................. 194,825
Foreign b o r n ........................................................................................................................ 52,499
W h it e ....................................................................................................................................... 245,985
Colored.....................................................................................................................................
571
Chinese.....................................................................................................................................
768
T o ta l............................................................................................................................. 247,324
I N D U S T R I A L A N D C O M M E R C IA L S T A T IS T IC S , 1894.

Industrial:
Establishments.....................................................................................................
880
Horsepower employed.........................................................................................
11,280
Laborers.................................................................................................................
5,054
W a ges................................................
$2,027,118
Capital invested................................................................................................... $5, 476, 246
Value o f plant....................................................................................................... $5,986, 215
Cost of materials................................................................................................... $2,640, 038
Value o f products................................................................................................. $6,678,118
Commercial:
Sto res.......................................................................................................................
1,974
Capital invested................................................................................................... $14.551,345
S a le s......................................................................................................................... $32; 865, 611
Employees.......................................................................................................................
5, 023

W ages..............................................................................................................




$2,814,314

REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR— UTAH.

389

M I N I N S S T A T IS T IC S , 1894.

Gold and silver:
Mines patented.....................................................................
Mines unpatented................................................................
Average number of employees.........................................
W ages.......................................................................................
Output, to n s..........................................................................
Value of o u tp u t..................................................................
Cost of p la n t.........................................................................
Cost of development work................................................
Coal:
Mines patented ....................................................................
Mines unpatented.................................................................
Employees...............................................................................
W a g e s.......................................................................................
Output, tons...........................................................................
Cost of p la n t.........................................................................
Cost of development w o r k ..............................................
fA E M

271
275
2,534
$2,809,817
251, 924
$4, 289, 606
$4,592,187
$7, 991,186
4

8
139
$59,775
62,101
$46,708
$43, 600

S T A T IS T IC S .

Free of incumbrance...................................................................................................
Mortgaged.......................................................................................................................

17, 684
2,132
19.816
$1,971, 352
$721, 2 2 9

T o ta l................................
Amount of mortgages..............
Expended for buildings, 1894
Acreage, 1894:
Under cultivation............
Irrigated..............................
Pasturage, fenced............
Improved..............................
Unimproved......................
Hired laborers...........................
Wages paid laborers..............
Expenses:
Eepairs.................................
Fertilizers...........................
Interest and taxes............
Sundries...............................
Live stock:
Milch cow s.........................
Other c a ttle .......................
Horses...................................
Swine over 6 months old
M u le s..................................
Asses.....................................
Goats.....................................
Sheep, 1894:
N um ber...............................
Value....................................
Wool, pounds....................
V a lu e ..........................
Value per pound___

467,162
417, 455
294, 725
806, 650
979,182
5, 960
$1, 015, 366
$226,879
$110, 621
$610, 820
$303,145
60, 595.
238,974
99, 895
47, 703
1, 308
835
2, 966
2, 422, 802
$3,686, 934
12,119, 763
$864,260
$0.07£

P R I N C I P A L F A R M P R O D U C TS, 1894.
Yield.
Nam e.

Acreage.
Bushels.

W hunt
.........................................................
Corn.....................................................................................................
O a ts.....................................................................................................
B arley............................................................................................. ..
L u c e rn e .............................................................................................
H a y .....................................................................................................
Potatoes..............................................................................................




a Tons.

144, 717
13, 893
49,334
8,754
3,791
163,544
89, 255
13,526

3,113, 073
260, 697
1,387, 710
271,866
42, 352
a 462, 459
a 133, 646
1, 649, 239

Value.

$1,440,096
151, 433
470, 658
100, 207
20,094
1,851, 639
604, 399
522, 855

Average
per acre
(bushels).
21.5
18.8
28.1
31.0
11.2
ct2.8
a 1.4
121.9

SECOND ANNUAL REPORT ON THE BUILDING AND LOAN ASSO­
CIATIONS OF CALIFORNIA.

Second Annual Report on the Building and Loan Associations of the State
o f California. By the Board of Commissioners of the Building and
Loan Associations. May 31? 1895. xiv, 387 pp.
This report is for the year ending May 31, 1895, and comprises state­
ments in detail from the 144 associations doing business in the State.
Forty-three pages are devoted to an analysis of the statistics and a dis­
cussion of exceptional methods prevailing in some associations. An
appendix of 31 pages presents the laws of the State for the formation,
government, control, and existence of corporations.
The number and the proportional amount of business done by each
of the three classes into which the associations are divided is given in
the following statement:
N U M B E R A N D P E R C E N T A G E OF B U S IN E S S O F D I F F E R E N T C L A S S E S OF B U I L D I N G
A N D L O A N A S S O C IA T IO N S .
Number. Per cent o f
business.

Class o f association.

N ational.......... .....................................................................................................................................
Cooperative ban ks..................................................................................... ....................................

135
7
2

86. 62
7.66
5. 72

T o t a l ..........................................................................................................................................

144

100.00

O f the 135 local associations reported, 134 are on the serial and 1 on
the terminating plan.
The aggregate resources and liabilities and the aggregate receipts
and disbursements of the different classes of associations are shown in
the following table:
R E SO U R C E S A N D L I A B I L I T I E S , R E C E IP T S A N D D IS B U R S E M E N T S OF B U I L D I N G A N D
L O A N A S S O C IA T IO N S .

Locals.

Nationals.

Cooperative
banks.

Loans .............................................................
A rrearage s................................. .................
Cash on hand...............................................
Real estate.....................................................
Other assets.................................................

$17, 254, 762.34
395, 654.10
273, 866.62
637, 836. 61
61,154.78

$1,458, 370. 86
45. 730.04
54,778.45
47, 676. 92
42, 460.17

$1,065,533. 25
7,990.00
27, 789. 80
5,966. 79
120, 949. 28

$19, 778, 666.45
449, 374.14
356,434.87
691,480.32
224,564.23

T o t a l...................................................

18, 623,274.45

1, 649, 016.44

1, 228, 229.12

21, 500,520.01

Item s.

Total.

EESOUECES.

390



391

BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS OF CALIFORNIA.

R ESO U R C ES A N D L I A B I L I T I E S , R E C E IP T S A N D D IS B U R S E M E N T S OF B U I L D I N G A N D
L O A N A S S O C IA T IO N S —Concluded.

Locals.

Item s.

Nationals.

Cooperative
banks.

Total.

LIABILITIES.

D u e s .............................................................
E a rn in g s.....................................................
A dvances.....................................................
Overdrafts and bills payable...............
Undivided profits and unearned pre­
miums .......................................................
Other liabilities.........................................

$12,386,570.51
4, 321,368.91
37,187. 22
1, 038,046. 31

$1,127,926.22
308,682.94
32,950. 62
67, 090. 91

$846,902.89
113,804.81
100,000. 00

$14,361,399. 62
4, 743,856. 66
70,137.84
1,205,137. 22

494,401. 90
345, 699. 60

33,180. 83
79,184.92

2,775.52
164, 745.90

530, 358. 25
589,630.42

T o ta l.................................................

18,623, 274.45

1, 649,016. 44

1,228,229.12

21,500, 520.01

119, 716. 44
3, 069, 687. 66
45, 050. 00
364,799.93
1, 219,125.62
24,855. 78
4,950.98
2, 948,619.45
1,042, 544. 61
135,880.61
163,417.85

16, 625.44
394, 803. 45
47, 021.15
72,904.19
73, 648.17
- 7,928.51
1,762. 80
175, 610. 50
71, 534. 79
10,233. 05
72,190. 97

34,413.46
288, 608.77
87, 225.15
45, 554.12
57,621.05
3, 063. 22
2, 952.05
323,844. 94
40, 861.30
1,800,817.66
31,166. 33

170, 755.34
3,753, 099.88
179, 296. 30
483,258.24
1, 350,394. 84
35,847. 51
9,665. 83
3,448, 074.89
1,154, 940. 70
1,946,931. 32
266, 775.15

9,138,648.93

944,263. 02

2, 716,128. 05

12,799, 040.00

Overdrafts and bills payable..
Loans...............................................
Interest .........................................
D ues refunded.............................
Profits on surrendered shares.
Salaries...........................................
T a x e s .............................................
Other exp enses...........................
Deposits repaid...........................
A ll other disbursem ents........ .
Balance on hand..........................

1, 520, 057.41
2, 554, 913.69
112, 598. 50
2, 672,313. 83
771,019. 35
132, 660.40
191,175.56
. 41,909.15
100, 977.81
767,156. 61
273, 866. 62

65, 356.04
365, 350. 25
6,235. 93
271,348. 57
44,911.73
37,630.92
10,745. 02
25,482. 61
5,228.78
57,194.72
54, 778.45

91, 516. 01
315, 833.92
12, 734. 01
291,113.11
24,166.65
14,355.00
16,195.22
24, 509. 93
1,786,130.37
111, 784. 03
27, 789.80

1,676,929.46
3, 236, 097.86
131, 568.44
3, 234, 775.51
840,097. 73
184,646.32
218,115.80
91, 901. 69
1,892, 336. 96
936,135. 36
356,434. 87

T o ta l................................... .

9,138,648. 93

944, 263.02

2, 716,128. 05

12, 799, 040.00

RECEIPTS.

Balance on hand...........................
D u e s ............................................... .
Paid-up stock................................
P rem iu m s.......................................
Interest ..........................................
F in e s ............ ...................................
F e e s...................................................
Loans repaid..................................
Overdrafts and bills payable..
D eposits..........................................
A ll other sources..........................
T o ta l....................................
DISBURSEMENTS.

The following table presents miscellaneous statistical information
that is shown in separate statements, arranged under appropriate
heads, and accompanied with proper explanation and analysis :
M IS C E L L A N E O U S S T A T IS T IC S OF B U I L D I N G A N D L O A N A S S O C IA T IO N S .

Item s.

Locals.

Nationals.

Cooperative
banks.

Total.

STOCK AN D MEMBERSHIP.

Authorized capital ...................................
Shares au th orized.....................................

$254,200, 000
1, 605, 600

$232, 500, 000
2,325, 000

$100,000,000
1, 000,000

$586,700,000
4,930, 600

Shares outstanding, last re p o rt..........
Shares issued since last report............

267, 058i£
37,5174

83,0864
31, 8154

48.778
8,887

398,922|5
78,220

Total shares issu e d ...................................
Shares canceled since last rep o rt-----

304, 575f£
54, 248|

114, 902
3 1 ,518|

57, 665
22, 024

477,142£l
107,7914

Shares outstanding...................................
Shares pledged.........................: ..................

250,327&
8 9 ,143f

83,3834
25,4444

35, 641
12,669

369, 351f£
127, 2 57^

.......

161,183|§

22,972

242,0944§

Surrender value of all shares..............

$14,089,893.80

$1,298, 857.30

$910, 665.54

$16,299,416. 64

Num ber o f members................................
N umber of borrowers...............................

20, 439
7, 222

7,160
1,643

2, 585
526

30,184
9, 391

Shares free.................... . . ______




57, 939

392

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

M IS C E L L A N E O U S

S T A T I S T I C S OE B U I L D I N G A N D

Item s.

Locals.

LOAN

Nationals.

A S S O C IA T IO N S -C o n c lu d e d .
Cooperative
banks.

Total.

LOANS.

Am ount of mortgage loans for y e a r ..
Am ount o f stock loans for year..........

1,356

405

125

1,886

$2,264,458.68
290,455.01

$284, 024.74
81, 325.51

$228, 003. 73
87,830.19

$2,776,487.15
459,610.71

2, 554, 913.69

365,350.25

315,833. 92

3, 236, 097.86

11, 778,257. 96

1,242,967.45

906,143. 44

13, 927, 368. 85

3
$5, 966. 79

225
$736, 528. 92

Present worth o f mortgages (taxable
Foreclosures since organization..........

205
$683,175.96

17~
$47, 386.17

SECURITIES.
Appraised value of im provem ents...
Appraised value of stock pledged . . .

11,352,691. 97
13, 895,500. 94
5,476, 504.38

1,811,171. 25
1, 679,128. 60
215,403.41

1, 210, 781. 00
753, 030. 00
159, 389. 81

14, 374, 644.22
16,327,659. 54
5, 851, 297. 60

T o t a l...................................................

30/724, 697. 29

3, 705, 703.26

2,123,200.81

36, 553,601. 36

1,116,285.07

139, 613.63

50,287. 96

1,306,186. 66

Paid on withdrawn and matured
shares—
Dues ___ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___
P rofits...................... ..............................

2, 672,313. 83
771, 019. 35

271, 348. 57
44, 911. 73

291,113.11
24,166. 65

3, 234, 775. 51
840, 097. 73

T o ta l...................................................

PROFITS.
N et profits of year...................................
MISCELLANEOUS.

3,443, 333.18

316,260.30

315, 279. 76

4, 074, 873. 24

Book value of—
Dues paid i n .............
Apportioned ea rn in g s............ ..

12, 386, 570. 51
4,321, 368.91

1,127,926. 22
308, 682. 94

846, 902. 89
113,804. 81

14, 361, 399. 62
4, 743, 856. 66

T o ta l...................................................
D educt surrender value of all shares.

16, 707, 939. 42
14, 089,893. 80

1,436,609.16
1, 298,857. 30

960,707. 70
910,665.54

19,105, 256. 28
16,299,416.64

Profits to associations i f all shares
were w ithdraw n.....................................

2,618,045.62

137,751.86

50,042.16

2,805, 839. 64

J.naris) •ffip.Avain ft___________ _________
Book value o f pledged sto c k ...............

17,254, 762.34
5,476, 504.38

1,458, 370.86
215, 403.41

1,065, 533. 25
159, 389. 81

19, 778, 666.45
5, 851, 297. 60

Present worth o f loans ...........................

11, 778,257. 96

1,242,967.45

906,143.44

13,927, 368.85

Houses built by members to Dec. 31,
1894—
Since organization____ . . . . . . . ___
D uring 1894...........................................

7,414
586

1,329
344

328
71

9, 071
1,001

Membership Dec. 31,1894—
M a l e s ............ ..................... . . . . . . . . .
Females .................................................
florprtrat.iftTis and sooifttifts_______

15, 369
4,867
25

6, 611
1, 345

2, 425
400

24,405
6, 612
25

T o t a l ...................................................

20. 261

7.956

2,825

31, 042




I

ANNUAL REPORT ON THE COOPERATIVE SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSO­
CIATIONS OF NEW YORK.

Annual Report o f the Superintendent of Banks Relative to Cooperative
Savings and Loan Associations fo r the year 1894. Transmitted to
tlie Legislature March 1,1895. Charles M. Preston, Superintendent.
978 xip.
This report opens with 20 pages devoted to a summarization of the
statistics, discussion of exceptional methods prevailing in some associa­
tions, and the names and addresses of associations that came into
existence and of those that were closed during the year. Nine hundred
and fifty-eight pages are contained in the appendix and index. The
returns for each of the 393 associations reported are presented in detail
in the appendix, and the returns for 368 associations are summarized by
county totals. The returns for “ lot associations” (25) and for the
foreign association doing business in the State are shown separately.
The laws of the State governing the organization and supervision of
associations are given in full.
The following statements give the aggregate assets and liabilities,
receipts and disbursements, and the earnings account of the 368 asso­
ciations the reports of which have been tabulated:
ASSETS.

Loans on bond and mortgage (face v a lu e ).................... ................................... $39,584, 944
Loans on other securities..........................................................................................
1, 085, 326
Real esta te .....................................................................................................................
1,636,995
Cash on hand and in b a n k .......................................................................................
1, 799,967
Furniture and fixtures..............................................................................................
75, 728
Installments due and unpaid..................................................................................
572, 872
Other a ssets...................................................................................................................
267, 426
Add for cents.................................................................................................................
477
Total..................................................................................

45,023,735

LIA BILITIES.

Due shareholders, due installments p a id ............................................................. $33,491,406
Due shareholders, installments paid in advance..............................................
2, 582, 569
Due shareholders, earnings credited.....................................................................
4,451,835
Borrowed money...........................................................................................................
475,583
Balance to be paid out on loans made..................................................................
666,557
Undivided earnings.....................................................................................................
3, 017,499
Other liabilities.............................................................................................................
337,726
Add for cents.................................................................................................................
560
T o ta l....................................................................................................................




45,023, 735
393

394

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
RECEIPTS (FROM ALL SOURCES).

Cash on hand January 1, 1894 .................................................................................
Subscriptions on shares, installm ent.....................................................................
Subscriptions on shares, single paym ent.............................................................
Money borrowed...........................................................................................................
Mortgages redeemed (in whole or in p a r t ).........................................................
Other loans redeemed.................................................................................................
Premiums received.......................................................................................................
Interest received...........................................................................................................
Fines received...............................................................................................................
Initiation, entrance, ormembership fe es..............................................................
Other receipts.................................................................................................................
Add for c e n ts.................................................................................................................

$923,288
10,892,115
1, 417, 710
913,867
4,802, 779
499, 905
667, 958
1, 956, 913
81, 996
68,579
747,826
1,055

T o t a l.....................................................................................................................

22, 973, 991

DISBURSEMENTS.

Loaned on m ortgage...................................................................................................
Loaned on other securities.......................................................................................
Paid on withdrawals, d u e s.......................................................................................
Paid on withdrawals, dividends.............................................................................
Salaries, advertising, printing,and r e n t..............................................................
Other disbursements...................................................................................................
Cash on h a n d .................................................................................................................
Add for c e n ts.................................................................................................................

$8, 966, 034
802,531
7,696,403
915,137
532,166
2,285,158
1,775,738
824

T o ta l.....................................................................................................................

22, 973,991

EARNINGS ACCOUNT.

Dr.
In terest....................................................................................................................... $2, Oil, 807.70
Prem ium .....................................................................................................................
748,576.54
Fines.............................................................................................................................
87,711.14
Transfer fees...............................................................................................................
2,285.01
Passbooks and initiation, membership, or share fee....................................
58, 897.32
Other earnings...........................................................................................................
172,596. 79
T o ta l................................................................................................................

3,081,874.50

Cr .
Expenses.....................................................................................................................
Earnings over expenses.........................................................................................

$946, 778.64
2,135, 095.86

T o ta l.................................................................................................................

3,081, 874.50

The following is a statement of miscellaneous items ot interest com­
piled from the tabulated reports of the 368 associations:
Foreclosures for the year.....................................................................................
454
Shares issued during the y e a r ...........................................................................
476,850J£
Shares in force at the close o f the y e a r ......................................................... 1, 336,882-13540?0
Shares pledged or borrowed o n .........................................................................
299,983
Borrowing members...............................................................................................
28,112
Nonborrowing members........ ................................. ............................................
134, 726
Female members.....................................................................................................
35, 069
Shares held by female members.........................................................................
245, 724-^0^
Loans now secured by mortgages in the S ta te ........................................... $31,484,730.86
Total expenses.........................................................................................................
$946,778.64




DECENNIAL CENSUS OF KANSAS FOE 1895.

Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture for the month ending
December 31, 1895. Part I.—State decennial census, 1895. Part II.—
Farm, crop, and live-stock statistics. F. D. Coburn, Secretary. 136 pp.
In Part I, winch embraces statistics of population for 1895, the returns
are presented by counties and minor civil divisions. The aggregate
population by counties for prior census years is also shown. The fol­
lowing statement gives the totals for the State for 1885 and 1895:
P O P U L A T IO N , 1885 A N D 1895.

Item s.

1885.

1895.

F e m a le s............................................................................................................................................

679, 300
589, 230

693, 928
640, 806

T o t a l .....................................................................................................................................

1, 268, 530

1, 334,734

N ative born:
M a les.........................................................................................................................................
F e m a le s...................................................................................................................................

601,946
533,909

621,185
585,147

T o t a l......................................................................................................................................

1,135, 855

1, 206, 332

Foreign b o rn :
M a le s....................................................................................... .................................................
F e m a le s .................................................................................................................................

77,354
55, 321

72,744
55,658

182. 675 I

19ft 409

W h ite :
M a le s........................................................................................................................................
F e m a le s....................................................................................................................................

654, 825
565, 498

644, 804
640, 945

T o t a l ....................................................................... ..............................................................

T o ta l......................................................................................................................................

1, 220, 323

1,285, 749

i
Colored:
M a le s......................................................................................................................................... I
F e m a le s...................................................................................................................................

24,379
23, 655

24,411
24, 300

T o t a l ...................................................................................................................................... 1

48,034

48,711

96
77

148
126

Chinese and In d ia n s:
M a le s.........................................................................................................................................
F e m a le s....................................................................................................................................

173

274

N umber of fam ilies.....................................................................................................................
Average number of persons to f a m i ly ............................................................................... |

251, 661
5.04

279,816
4. 77

Children of school age, 5 to 20 years, inclusive:
M a le s.........................................................................................................................................
F e m a le s.................................................................................................................................... |

244, 440
232,437

252, 264
247,059

T o t a l .....................................................................................................................................

476, 877

499, 323

M ales of military age.................................................................................................................
M ales of voting age, 21 years and over...........................................................................
Persons 21 years o f age and o v e r .........................................................................................
Persons engaged in agriculture............................................................................................
Persons engaged in professional and personal services.............................................
Persons engaged in trade and transportation................................................................
Persons engaged in manufacturing and mechanical industries..............................
Persons engaged in m in in g .....................................................................................................

273, 628
336, 371
600,183
202, 279
49, 746
32, 549
43, 421
3,699

280, 693
359, 663
668 , 568
185, 394
63, 694
42, 574
43,719
7,195

T o t a l .....................................................................................................................................

Part II relates to farm, crop, and live-stock statistics.
3687—No. 4----- 5




395

RECENT FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

General Report on the Wages of the Manual Labor Classes in the United
Kingdom, with Tables of the Average Rates of Wages and Hours of
Labor o f Persons Employed in Several of the Principal Trades in 1886
and 1891. 1893. xlviii, 481 pp. (Published by the Labor Depart­
ment of the Board of Trade.)
This report is the final one of a series on this subject prepared by
the labor department of the British Board of Trade, which are based
on a census of wages taken in conformity with a resolution of the
House of Commons of March 2, 1886. The data were obtained by
means of schedules sent by mail to employers calling for a statement
as to “ the weekly rates of wages actually earned in a particular week
in October, 1886, by the numbers actually at work in that week, divided
according to the varied classification of their occupations, and distin­
guishing in all cases the wages paid to men, to lads and boys, to
women, and to girls, respectively;” half-timers were also designated,
and a distinction made between wages earned by “ piece ” and wages
earned by “ time” work. The “ numbers and rates of wages for each
occupation ” were also required. A distinct set of questions called for
the total wages paid during 1885, with particulars as to the maximum
amount paid as wages in one week with the number employed for that
week; also the minimum amount paid as wages in one week with the
number employed for that week.
From these reports the actual earnings for 1886 were estimated by
multiplying the wages for a given week by 52 and making any deduc­
tions that might seem expedient, the totals being verified by the totals
reported for 1885. The results obtained from the two processes are
summarized in the following statement, which shows the general aver­
age annual earnings of men, women, and children:
A V E R A G E A N N U A L W A G E S I N V A R IO U S M A N U F A C T U R I N G I N D U S T R IE S , O B T A I N E D
B Y D IF F E R E N T M E T H O D S , C O M P A R E D .

Industry.

Pi g i rori........ ...................................................................................................
Engineering, e t c ...........................................................................................................
Iron and steel shipbuilding ...............................................................................
Tin p la t e ............................................................................................................
Brass work and metal w ares............................................................................
S a w m ills..................................................................................................................
W ood shipbuilding .......................................................................
C ooperage................................................................................................
Coach and carriage building...................................................................................

396




Total wages
for 1885 divided
by number
employed Oct.
1,1886.
iput/U. £iO
286. 394
370. 34
268.87i
266. 684
256. 95'
277. 63i
276. 41*
255.73*

A verage rate
for a week
in 1886 m ulti­
plied b y 52.
<fcoU
on-t±. A
G
<p
4o
277.14£
328! 73
283. 47*
282! Oil
271. 06*
261.82
292.96*
273. 98*

397

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

A V E R A G E A N N U A L W A G E S I N V A R IO U S M A N U F A C T U R I N G IN D U S T R IE S , O B T A IN E D
B Y D IF F E R E N T M E T H O D S , C O M P A R E D -C on clu d ed .
Total wages
for 1885 divided
by number
employed Oct.
1 , i 8 86 .

Industry.

Boot and shoe factories......................................................................................... ..
B rew eries........................................................................................................................
"Distilleries _
___ __________________ _ _________
Brick and t i l e ...............................................................................................................
Chemical manure..........................................................................................................
Railway-carriage and wagon building...............................................................
Printing and engraving trades:
Large establishm ents.........................................................................................
Small establishm ents........ ..................- ............................................................
N ew spap ers...........................................................................................................

Average rate
for a week
in 1886 m ulti­
plied by 52.

(a)
$290.28$
261. 09
219. 48
321. 67$
372.04i

$231. 64i
295. 64
255. 98
237. 97
272.03i
285.17$

256.22
204.39i
355. 74

255. 73$
211 . 20 i
375. 45

a N ot ascertained.

There is a rough correspondence between the high annual average
rates for a normal year of fifty-two weeks and the high percentage of
men employed. This comparison, however, is not likely to hold in dis­
similar trades in which the rates of wages of men are very different.
In the following statement, which shows the average weekly wages
for, and the percentage of, men, lads and boys, women, and girls,
respectively, the industries are arranged according to the annual wages
for a normal year of fifty-two weeks:
A V E R A G E W E E K L Y W A G E S A N D P E R C E N T A G E OF M E N , L A D S A N D B O Y S , W O M E N ,
A N D G IR L S I N V A R IO U S M A N U F A C T U R I N G IN D U S T R IE S .

Industry.

Com­
M en.
puted
wages for
Per
52 weeks
W ages.
cent.
in 1886.

Lads and boys.
Per
cent.

W ages.

W om en.

Girls.

Per
cent.

W ages.

W ages.

Per
cent.

s
Printing and engraving,
small establishm ents. .
Boot and shoe factories..
Brick and t i l e .....................
Printing and engraving,
large establishments . .
D istille ries...........................
W o o d shipbuilding..........
S a w m ills...............................
Chemi cal manure...............
Coach
and
carriage
building............................
Engineering, etc................
Brass work and metal
w a r e s . . . , . ........................
Tin p la te ...............................
Railway-carriage
and
wagon b u ild in g ............
Cooperage.............................
B rew eries.............................
P ig iron .................................
Iron and steel shipbuild­
ing .......................................
New spapers.........................




$211 . 20 $
231.64i
237.97

$7.09i
5.90
5. 55$

43.6
59.2
71. 0

$1.70$
2.03 1
2.19

49.1
16.3
22 . 2

$2.57$
3. 04
2. 27

255.73$
255.98
261. 82
271. 06$
272.03$

8.19
4.95
6 . 89$
5.90
5. 59$

46.5
98. 7
65.0
81.7
88.7

2. 09
2.39$
1. 56
2.15
2. 39$

37.6
.7
35.0
18.3
8.5

2 . 86

273.98$
277.14$

6.45
6.26$

75.4
76.9

1 . 62
2 .2 1

24.6
23.1

282.01$
283.47$

7. 20
8.13

65.0
52.2

2.05
2. 73$

29.6
24.1

3.14$
2. 51$

285.17$
292.96$
295. 64
301.48

6 . 12 $

82.3

17.1
31.9

3.22$

7.40
5. 90
5.96

94.0
95.2

2.55$
1 . 88 $
2. 37
2. 59$

328.73
375.45

7.11$
9. 02$

6 8 .1

80.8
74.3

2. 96
2. 03

2. 29

7.0
.6

2.13

2 .8

19.2
22.9

j

‘

$1. 50
1.34
1.84$

5.3

1. 36

8.9

6 .8
1 .0

3.9
17.5

1. 50

1.5

1 . 68 $

6 .2

.4

1. 70$

.2

i

6 .0

4.8

2 .0

17.7
5.8

i

*1

1
!

2.96

.8

1.58

2 .0

398

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The percentage of men employed at stated weekly wages in different
industries is shown in the following statement:
P E R C E N T A G E O F M E N E M P L O Y E D I N V A R IO U S M A N U F A C T U R I N G IN D U S T R IE S , B Y
STATED W E E K L Y W AG ES.

Percentage o f men earning—
Industry.

Printing and engraving, small establish­
ments .......................................................................
Boot and shoe factories.........................................
Brick and t i l e ...........................................................
Printing and engraving, large establish­
ments ..................................................................... .
D istilleries.................................................................
W ood shipbuilding.................................................
S a w m ills.....................................................................
Chemical manure.....................................................
Coach and carriage b u ild in g .............................
Engineering, e tc.......................................................
Brass w ork and metal w a re s ............ ................
Tin plate.....................................................................
Railway-carriage and wagon building..........
Cooperage...................................................................
B rew eries...................................................................
P ig iro n .......................................................................
Iron and steel shipbuilding.................................
N ew spapers...............................................................

Under
$4.86!.

$4.86!
or
under
$6.08!.

$6.08i
or
under
$7.30.

$7.30
or
under
$8.51£.

$8.51|
or
under
$9.73!.

$9.73!
or
over.

4.8
11.9
27.8

15.7
49.0
39.6

3^.6
22.9
18.4

29.3
10.9
11.5

1 1 .2

8.4

3.3

2 .0
1 .1

3.1
52.5
11.5
26.0
33.4
15.0
29.5

8.7
30.4
18.5
31.4
27.7
26.3
16.9
18.1
13.3
24.5
14.1
37.0
23.1
14.2
8.9

16.4

27.5
4.8
43.6
15.8

23.9
3.1
9.9
4.9
2.9
6.3
5.9

8 .2

16.1
24.0
6.4
26.2
33.5
18.9
.4

8 .0

14.5
19.3
25.7
23.9
28.9
23.6
7.1
2 2 .6

23.2
18.9
22.5
20.5
13.5

8 .6
2 2 .6

15.2
28.4
8 .8

26.0
27.2
8 .2

15.0
21.9
18.0

1 .6

1 0 .8

21.5
1 .6

19.0
4.4
2 .1

11.4
2 1 .8

20.4
1 .2
2 .0
2 .6

1.7
5.9
3.6
10.9
33.2
1.3
1 0.1

5.3
3.8
13.1
37.4

Total.

1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
’ 1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0

Comparing different districts it is found that higher rates of wages
prevail in Great Britain than in Ireland, and higher in England than
in Scotland. The following statement is a comparison between the
average annual wages in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the United
Kingdom in certain industries for which the necessary particulars were
secured:
A V E R A G E A N N U A L W A G E S I N V A R IO U S M A N U F A C T U R I N G I N D U S T R I E S I N E N G ­
L A N D , S C O T L A N D , I R E L A N D , A N D T H E U N I T E D K IN G D O M , C O M P A R E D .
[The averages in this table were obtained by m ultiplying the average for a week in 1886 by 52.]

Industry.

Engineering, etc........................
Brass work and metal w ares.
Sawm ills........................................
Coach and carriage building
Breweries.....................................
D istille ries..................................
Chemical m anure......................
Printing and engraving:
Large establishm ents—
Small establishm ents___

U nited
England. Scotland. Ireland.
(a)
Kingdom.
$285.66i
290.04i
281. 04
279. 33i
300. 99i
313. 64!
285.17i

$264.98
266.44
255. 25
258. 90
266.92i
254. 27i
243. 32i

$223. 37
248. 68
241. 62
257.44
246. 49
229. 70
228. 72J

$277.14i
282. 01 i
271.06i
273. 98!
295. 64
255.98
272. 03i

269.84i
214.37

228.72i
204.15

214.85i
179. 33

255.73i

211. 20|

a M ost of the returns used came from Dublin, Belfast, and other large towns.

Particulars of rates of wages, etc., are also given for indoor workers
in the tailoring, dressmaking, millinery, mantle making, and linen-under­
clothing industries. The total amount of wages returned for the year
1885, and the numbers employed, included in many cases persons work­
ing at their own homes and only partially employed by the firms who
made the returns. The details for 1885 were further complicated in the




399

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

case of the industries referred to by the wages and numbers of those who
were boarded and lodged not being distinguished. For these reasons
it is impossible to give annual rates based on the total wages and
numbers for 1885.
A V E R A G E A N N U A L W A G E S OF IN D O O R W O R K E R S I N T A IL O R IN G , D R E S S M A K IN G ,
A N D S I M I L A R IN D U S T R IE S .
[The averages in this table were obtained by m ultiplying the average for a week in 1886 by 52.]

Industry.

Men.

Tailoring.................'.................................................................
Dressmaking (a) ...................................................................
Millinery (a) ...........................................................................
Mantle making (a) ...............................................................
Baby linen, etc.......................................................................

$399.54

Lads and
W om en.
boys.
$67. 40

Girls.

$192.95i
170.08!
167. 41
182.49!
160.11

$62. 29
2 9 .68i
28. 47
46.96
47.93!

Total.

$339. 68
136. 26
94. 65i
165. 70!
143.32

a N o t including women and girls who, in addition to money wages, were allowed full or partial board
and lodging.

The average annual wages shown for tailoring are subject to consider­
able deduction for lost time, and are also affected by the number of
cutters who are engaged in cutting out garments that are made up not
only by the persons employed on the premises, but by large numbers of
outworkers. A complete average for the trade would include outworkers
as well as indoor workers, but this can not be arrived at from the data
obtained. In the case of girls, the average for dressmaking and mil­
linery is much below the averages for the other industries, owing to the
fact that in these two industries a large proportion of the young girls
were not paid any wages, as will be seen by the following statement,
which relates exclusively to those who were not provided with lodging
or food in addition to money wages:
PERCENTAGE
IN

OF W O M E N A N D G IR L S E M P L O Y E D A T S T A T E D W E E K L Y W A G E S
T A IL O R IN G , D R E S S M A K IN G , A N D S I M I L A R I N D U S T R IE S .
W om en.

Girls.

$1.70i
or
under
$2.43J.

$2.43!
or
under
$3.65.

$3.65
or
under
$4.86i.

$4.86i
or
under
$6.08i.

T a ilorin g.................
D ressm aking........
M illin ery................
M antle making - . .
Baby linen, etc-----

15.6
16.4
25.5

37. 5
25.2
29.2
35.3
50.0

19.5

24.6

27.4
54.5
34.9
52.7
24.9

T o t a l............

17.3

43.4

34.4

3.9

Industry.

8 .0

2 .6

7.6
2.7
.5

$6.08i
or over.

"‘ "’i.Y
2 .8

1.3
1 .0

Total.

$0.48i
Unpaid
or
appren­
under
tices.
$ 1 , 211 .

$ 1 .21 |
or
under
$1.70i

Total.

1 00 .0
1 00 .0
1 00 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0

42.5
47.0
14.3

26. 7
30.8
36.8
52.4
a 92.1

73.3
26.7
16.2
33.3
7.9

1 00.0
1 0 0 .0
100.0
1 00.0
100 .0

1 00.0

33.3

43.3

23.4

100 .0

a This percentage is made up of 76.2 per cent o f full-timers, paid 73 cents to $ 1 .21 ! per week, and
15.9 per cent of half-timers, paid 61 cents to 85 cents.

The number of women provided with board or lodging in the dress­
making, mantle making, and millinery industries is only about 12 per
cent of the total number employed in all three industries, and their
average annual earnings are considerably higher than those of the
women who do not receive either board or lodging. The explanation




400

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

of this seeming anomaly is that those who are given board and lodg­
ing, or partial board, are skilled workers, viz, fitters, heads of tables,
cutters, etc.
The following statement shows the number, percentage, and average
annual wages of the women who are not allowed board or lodging,
allowed full board and lodging, and allowed partial board, respectively:
N U M B E R , P E R C E N T A G E , A N D A V E R A G E A N N U A L W A G E S OF W O M E N E M P L O Y E D
I N T H E D R E S S M A K IN G , M I L L I N E R Y , A N D M A N T L E M A K I N G I N D U S T R IE S , B Y
M E T H O D OF P A Y M E N T .
W ith ou t board or
lodging.

W ith full board and
lodging.

W ith partial board.

Total.

Industry.
N u m ­ Per
ber. cent.

Average N um ­ Per
ber. cent.
wages.

Average N um ­ Per
wages.
ber. cent.

616
106
300

87.6
75.2
94.9

$170.08|
167.41
182. 49J

43
32
7

2 .2

$238.46
232.13
285.42

44
3
9

6.3

22.7

T o ta l............ 1, 022

8 8 .1

173.49

82

7.1

239. 92

56

4.8

D ressm a k in g ........
M illin e r y .................
Mantle m aking-----

6 .1

2 .1

2.9

Average N u m ­ Per
cent.
wages.
ber.
$268.14i
314.13i
411. 95

703
141
316

1 0 0 .0

293. 69£ 1,160

1 0 0 .0

100. 0

1 0 0 .0

The data concerning wages and employees on railways, in shipping,
domestic service, the building trades, and various public employments,
such as the army, navy, and hospitals, were obtained in a somewhat
different manner than that for the other industries. Of this group
only the statistics concerning the building trades will be referred to in
this synopsis. The information concerning the building trades was
obtained from employers, the National Association of Master Builders,
and trade union reports, as well as other sources, and covers the years
1886 and 1891.
The first statement presented deals with the total number of employ­
ees reported for all occupations coming under this general group, and
shows the percentage of men employed at stated weekly rates of wages.
P E R C E N T A G E OF M E N E M P L O Y E D I N B U I L D I N G
1886 A N D 1891.

TRADES, B Y

W EEKLY

W AGES,

Per cent o f total.
W eek ly wages.

January.
1886.

Under $4.86^..................................................................................................................
$4.86^ or under $6.08^...............................................................................................
$6,084 or under $7.30........................................... ............................................ .........
$7.30 or under $8 514.................................................................................................
$8.51£ or under $9.73$................................................................................................
A b ove $9.734..................................................................................................................
T o t a l....................................................................................................................

1891.

July.
1886.

1891.

6.3
23.2
14.6
30. 2

6 .1
2 .1

14.8
22.3
13. 5
32.0
14.0
3 .4

4.7

19.8
28.2
7.6

1 0 0 .0

1 00 .0

1 0 0 .0

1 0 0 .0

2 2 .1

12. 9
23. 7
33.1

2 1 .0

6 .8

27.5
1 0.1

The average weekly rate for the year would not be the mean of the
rates given for January and July, but a figure arrived at on the basis
of taking about 37 weeks of the summer rate, and 15 weeks of the
winter rate, and dividing the result by 52. That would yield the average
rate for a normal week, the result being subject, as in the case of all




401

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

other trades, to some deductions for lost time, owing to irregularity of
employment, bad weather, and other causes. The deductions to be
made from the above rates will not exceed 10 per cent. In a good year,
the time lost in the building trades during bad weather is made up to
some extent by overtime during the summer months. The overtime
pay is excluded from the rates of wages given.
The following statement shows the number of employees and the
average weekly wages for the principal classes of occupations included
in the group of building trades :
E M P L O Y E E S A N D A V E R A G E W E E K L Y W A G E S I X B U IL D IN G T R A D E S , I N J A N U A R Y
A N D J U L Y , FO R T H E Y E A R S 1886 A N D 1891.
January.

July.
1891.

1886.

1886.

1891.

Occupations.
Em ­
ployees.

M a so n s......................
Bricklayers..............
Carpenters
and
joiners....................
Pain ters....................
L a b o re rs..................

Average
weekly
wages.

Em ­
ployees.

Average
weekly
wages.

442
232

$6 . 79i
7. 54i

402
428

$7. 50i
7.84i

1, 094
277
1,092

7.701
6 . 69
4. 641

1,419
469
1, 740

7.091
4. 80i

8 .2 1

Average j
T -,
Em|
weekly ^ ployees.
ployees.
J wages. ; 1 J
451
337
1,139
468
1,401

$7.95
8.64

610

8.311
7 .72ij
5.25 ,
!

Average
weekly
wages.

888

$8 . 39i
8 . 98i

1,516
813
2,845

8 . 57£
8.17
5.531

While the numbers shown in the above statement as having been
employed in July are larger than the numbers for January, there is no
regular proportionate increase, the rise in a year like 1891 being more
marked than in a year of depression like 1886. There is an increase
shown in the wages for each occupation presented. This increase has
occurred at a time when the standard weekly hours of labor have been
on the decline, although the reduction in hours of work has not been
as general as the increase in rates of wages.
The number of employees and total wages paid per week in 1886 and
1891 are shown in the following statement. The figures given in this
statement relate to all occupations included in the returns received for
building trades.
E M P L O Y E E S A N D W A G E S I N A L L B U I L D I N G T R A D E S O C C U P A T IO N S , 1886 A N D 1891.

1886.

Employees :
Highest number employed
Lowest number employed
Mean of the 52 w e e k s ........
W a g e s:
Highest weekly am ou nt. . .
Lowest weekly am ount—
Mean of the 52 w e e k s ........

5,068 !'
3, 596 I
4,538 |
$33, 783. 24£ I
17,339.34 ;
27, 923. 97J |

1891.

8,743
5, 576
8,088
$57, 025. 64£
28,191.63£
50,197. 94£

The information summarized in the preceding statements is presented
in detail in the report, so that similar data can be obtained for each
occupation in the given industries in different districts of the United
Kingdom.




402

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

In conclusion, the statistics for all classes of labor in different indus­
tries are summarized. With the exception of the statistics for railways,
mercantile marine, building, and other trades referred to as haying been
treated separately, this summary includes all data gathered at or in
connection with the census of wages of 1886. The totals are represen­
tative of perhaps three-fourths of the manual laboring classes of the
United Kingdom.
“ The general effect of this summary is to show an average rate of
wages per head of 24s. 7d. ($5.98) per week, equal to £64 ($311.45£)
per annum, if the weekly rate were multiplied by 52. Questions of
course arise upon such a statement as to regularity of employment,
overtime, and the like; * * # but considering that the year 1886,
to which the census primarily relates, was a year of depression, and the
great number of trades dealt with where employment is not irregular,
I should not myself consider that any great mistake would be made in
assuming average earnings for men for the average of the last few years
to be not far short of 24s. 7d. ($5.98) per week. The point may also be
raised that the rates are for a year a considerable way back; but there
has been enough experience in the department to show that rates of
wages change rather slowly, and as the tendency has, on balance, been
upward since 1886, there is the more reason to believe that even if an
average rate, as shown above, was rather above the average earnings
of 1886 in particular, it would not be above the average of 1886-1892.”
Similar averages for women, lads and boys, and girls show the weekly
wages to have been $3.08, $2.17, and $1.54, respectively.
The following statement, which includes all industries, as indicated
above, shows the percentage of men, women, lads and boys, and girls,
respectively, employed at stated weekly wages :
P E R C E N T A G E OE M E N , W O M E N , L A D S A N D B O Y S , A N D G IR L S E M P L O Y E D I N A L L
IN D U S T R IE S , B Y S T A T E D W E E K L Y W A G E S .

W eek ly wages.

H a lf-tim ers.......................................................................................................
Under $2.43*......................................................................................................
$2.43* to $3.65 .................................................................
.....................
$3.65*to $4.86*....................................................................................................
$4.86* to $6.08*.................................................................................................
$6.08* to $7.30....................................................................................................
$7.30 to $8.51*...................................................................................................
$8.51* to $9.73*..................................................................................................
A b o v e $9.73*....................................................................................... ..............
T o t a l .......................................................................................................




M en.

0 .1

2.4
21.5
33.6
24.2

W omen.

26.0
50.0
18.5
5.4

11.9
49.7
32.5
5.8

27.2
62.5
8.9
1.4

.1

.1

1 1 .6

4.2
2.4
100 .0

100 .0

1 0 0 .0

1 0 0 .0

403

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

In the following statement 8,073 returns, relating to 816,106 em­
ployees, exclusive of those in Government works, are summarized so as
to show the actual number and percentage employed at stated yearly
rates of wages:
NUM BER AN D

P E R C E N T OF E M P L O Y E E S R E P O R T E D FO R A L L
A N N U A L W A G E S , O C T O B ER 1, 1886.

IN D U S T R IE S , B Y

Employees.
An nu al wages.
Number.

Per cent.

U n d e r$191.66 .................. .................................. ..........................................................................
$194.66 to $243.32$.........................................................................................................................
$243.32$ to $291.99 ........................................................................................................................
$291.99 to $340 65$
....................................................................................................................
O f and above $340.65$......................................................................... ........................................

349, 832
67, 818
268, 295
67,320
62,841

42.9
8.3
32.9

T o ta l......................................................................................................................................

816,106

1 0 0 .0

8 .2

7.7

The average annual wages of all employees, obtained by dividing
the total wages in 1885, exclusive of those paid in Government works,
by the total number of employees October 1, 1886, as shown in the
above table, was $228.72^.
The numbers in the above statement under $194.60 may be consid­
ered to represent the trades in which female or child labor is mainly
employed.
The average annual earnings for men in the industries referred to as
having been treated separately are given as follows: Railways (1891),
$291.99; building trades (1891), $355.25J; seamen (mercantile marine),
$316.32| (a); seamen royal navy (petty officers and seamen), $316.32^
(a); army (noncommissioned officers and men), $233.59 (a); domestic
servants (large households), $330.92 (a); employees in lunatic asylums,
$291.99 (a); employees in hospitals and infirmaries, $296.85^ (a).
JErhebung uber Verhdltnisse im HandwerTc veranstaltet im Sommer 1895.
Bearbeitet im kaiserlichen statistischen Amt. 579 pp.
This work, an investigation in reference to the condition of skilled
trades, was undertaken by the German Government for the use of
members of the Reichstag and other officials. According to the intro­
ductory remarks there exists among German artisans a desire that the
skilled trades should be organized on a firmer basis than the present
voluntary trade guilds, especially with the view of obtaining greater
efficiency in the technical training of apprentices. In response to this
desire, the German Government, before taking any stand in the matter,
deemed it advisable to ascertain the condition of the skilled trades at
the present time, and for that purpose instituted an investigation call­
ing for certain information concerning skilled artisans, and concerning
other matters of interest in connection with the organization of the
skilled trades.
a Including estimated value of food and lodging where necessary.




404

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

A selection was made of 37 localities in Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony?
Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse, and Liibeck, having an aggregate popula­
tion in 1890 of 2,292,525 persons and an area of 18,700 square kilo­
meters (7,220 square miles), care being taken to select such districts as
would be typical of the industrial conditions of the Empire generally.
in each of the districts a census enumeration was made of all per­
sons coming under the following three categories: First, all occupa­
tions which may be regarded as purely skilled; second, those in which
there is a doubt as to whether the labor may be regarded as skilled or
factory work; third, those in which skilled work is done at the work­
ingman’s home, but where he is in the employ of others. The work was
done by means of blank schedules distributed by the communal and
police authorities and collected by them within five days. In this
manner 64,899 blanks were distributed, of which 61,257 were returned
in such shape that they could be used. These give information con­
cerning 134,712 persons. The enumeration was made in the summer
of 1895.
The report consists of an introduction explaining the object of and
methods pursued in the investigation and an analysis of the results
obtained, and a series of statistical tables showing by enumeration
districts and for each skilled trade, respectively, the nuinber and sex
of employers and independent master workmen, foremen, journeymen,
apprentices, and unskilled laborers covered by the investigation, the
number of trades learned, and length of apprenticeship of al^male
employers and independent master workmen, etc.
The results of this investigation of most general interest, as far as
those engaged in undoubtedly skilled trades are concerned, can be sum­
marized in two tables. The first of these shows the distribution of
these workingmen according to whether they are employers or inde­
pendent master workmen, journeymen, apprentices, or other employees
for each trade separately.
N U M B E R , OF P R O P R IE T O R S I N T H E S K IL L E D T R A D E S A N D T H E IR E M P L O Y E E S .
Journeymen.

Apprentices.
Total
Other
per­
At
em­
F ore­ A t
Em ­
At
At
W o rk ­
sons
trades
men.
trades
ploy­
ploy­
other Total.
other Total.
occu­
ing Total.
speci­
speci­
ing
ees.
trades.
trades.
pied.
alone.
fied.
fied.
labor.
Proprietors.

Skilled trades.

Barbers and hair­
613
dressers ............
W igm akers and
hairdressers. . .
55
2,958
B akers...................
Surgical instru­
m ent and band­
77
age m akers........
329
Coopers...................
264
B re w e rs.................
30
W e ll diggers........
Bookbinders and
paper-box m ak­
200
ers .........................
72
B rushm akers----219
Confectioners----320
R ooters...................
W ire drawers-----




591 1,204
72
17
1,559 4,517
39
566
73
29

116
895
337
59

160
98
65
361

360
170
284
681

1

1

3

451

117

67
2, 706

4
6

51

5
4
9
12

453

583

583

11

2,254

67
25 2,731

52
1, 775

52
13 1,788

4
483

195
9, 636

97
331
380
50

117

117
213
126
9

9
24
178
29

343
1,469
1,072
147

177
46
246
166

179
46
246
167

74
7
78

824
313
881
1, 543

2

96
329
380
48

1
2

203

2

3

206

86

86

264
590

5

264
595

211

2

126
9

1

2

1

88

1

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.
R O P R IE TO R S I N

THE

S K IL L E D T R A D E S
Continued.

oprietors.

Journeymen.

AND

T H E IR EM

Apprentices.

otal

Em ­
Fore­
At
At
W ork ­
At
At
men. trades
ploy- |
trades
ing Total.
other Total.
other Total.
speci­
speci­
log . alone.
trades.
trades.
labor.
fied.
fied.

163
116

390
127

227
11

241

9

58
- 48

54
19

112

33
4

1

35
126

23;

1.

67

I

16

15
44
5
505
441

66

100

190
246

10
10

37
5

3

139
248

200

256
40
5

45
4
17
31

er>ns

rou­
ted.

139
254

738
711

1

46
4
17
31

141
13
301
171

6

86

86

67

5
3

62

62

11

42

3

69

4

73

30

1

31

155

20

55
193

6

7

58
235

46
50

3

4

52
228

49
50

170
534

•48
394

46
218

21
101
1

28

212

6
6

7

4

101

127
721

1

80

6

86

40

1

41

283

1

17
9

72
71

15

15

503

503
32
118

209
30
L , 950
5,028
326
444

67

173

2

9

—

25
221

40

1

79

146

36
45 ..........

20

30

82
126
18
23
342
847
901 1, 342
121
187
46
146

14
11

14

17

1

12

8

10

563
445
81
162

56

56
6

6

2

4
4
3
5

553
445
75
140

11 1,909
782 8,553
17 1,835
120 1,247
85
4

1,014
1,526
1,345
248
15

5 1, 019
164 1,690
1 1,346
3
251
15

1,851
>, 794
>,984
f. 307
164

6
22

221

221

32
110

8

978
30

807
1, 576
1,460
452
28

1,780
2, 690
3,472
1,430
58

17
254
41
104
2

1,898
7, 771
1,818
1,127
81

17!

23

40

3

29

29

5

5

79

8

12

20

2

6

6

6

6

27
16

177

204
3°

33
15

33
15

4
5

^4
*5

35
241
71

482
156

426
35

427
35

5,031
288

973
1,1141

2, 012'

519
15

587 1,106
77
92

726

991 1, 717

552

239

791

170
7
13

20

190
7j
13

11
1

5

16

2

2

2

28

13

41

‘ *2

6

6

3

5 .......... 1

11

1,490

3

472
156

1

404

404

576

576

5,709

22

593

593

1, 214

1, 214

5, 660

215
28
34

413
26
30

414
26
30

833
62
82

31

31

13

13

72

54

54

57

57

152

6

6

i

1

6
12

1,191

1,191

1,069

1, 069

i, 864

8

8

10

10

30

9'

9

40

256

256

,224
19

6

10

i
2 1 5 ...............
28'...............
34 ...............

4

1,049 2, 539

23

4

12

13

6

19

11

11 !

1

2

2

381
31
;




1
195
90

576
5
142

1

2

26

57

2

1

2

8

1

1

;

1

i

367
10

10

1

1

2

54

54

18

18

220

1

1

24

24

3
108

2

23 i ..............

369

3

11

23

406

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

N U M B E R OF P R O P R IE T O R S I N

Skilled trades.

Chimney sweeps.
Joiners (not specialists) ............
House joiners___
W ooden toy and
ornamentmakers........................
Trunk m akers__

T H E S K IL L E D
Concluded.

TRADES AN D

T H E IR

EM PLO YEES—

Proprietors.
Journeymen.
Apprentices.
Total
Other per­
Em ­
Fore­
At
At
em ­
W ork­
At
At
sons
ploy­
men. trades
trades
ing- Total.
other Total.
other Total. ploy­ occu­
ing
speci­
speci­
ees.
alone.
trades.
pied.
trades.
labor.
fied.
fied.
1 2,735
1
103

1,726
42

2, 386
614

1,448
304

2,168
103

3, 462 5,630
22
125

55

2,734

6

102

1, 704
333

2, 013 3, 717
550
217

32
9

2, 386
612

3
15

2

2

i

19
18

19
18

1
11

2

4
4

g

12

2

1,726
42
2

113 10,259
278
2

1, 448
306

74
15

7, 657
1,494

1
1
1

40
41

4

4

10

10

3

6

Cabinet makers,
fancv
inlaid
7
238

101

W a g o n m ak e rs.. .
W e a v e rs.................
Carpenters............

773
883
586

9

3

8

8

2

463

237

168

1
20

1

1

1

5

27 j
27

9
9

1

37

27
27

9

22

1

2

2

4

5

5 11

1

15
15
Chair makers . . . .
1
Loom m akers___
W ooden
tool
4
makers _____ ___
Shoe and slipper
m a k e rs............... 2, 696
Soap and candle
m a k e r s .............
28
88
Rope m akers.........
11
Sieve makers ____
Spur and screw
makers and ri­
34
ders .....................
Umbrella
and
15
parasol m akers.
Toy and wood­
2
work finishers.
176
Stone c u tte r s ----57
Stone setters........
K nitters and em­
72
broiderers ........
67
Stucco w orkers..
Paper hangers,
155
decorators.........
172
P o tte r s ...................
82
Cloth m ak e rs. . . .
W a tc h and clock
231
m a k e rs...............
C ild e r s .... ..............
22
Finishers
of
rough wooden

9

3
15
406

1
8

2

Pattern m akers..
Furnituremakers

6 , 710 9,406

25
97
19

53
185
30

6

457

6

1

1

2
1

9

238

19

'

15
25
1,132
3
57
73
3
9

3 2, 790

'
1, 754

1,754

120

14,101

32

32

110

110

5
34

5
34

38
27

16

1

1

131
361
47

31

2, 787

3
5

16
47

1

23

57

48

36

36

12

27

2

18

18

8

8

35

90

5
107
37

7
283
94

1

6

6

26
5

865
207

869
207

4
182
31

4
183
31

1
88

19
1,449
497

151
46

223
113

1

85
223

85
227

17
82

122

277
309
193

7
4

176
311
77

11

187
311
77

158
148
29

3

583
30

3

186
30

2
2

188
32

164

1

415
1, 995
3, 800 4,683
988 1, 574

2
8
2

93
659
738
713 3, 583

47
474
151
693

137
111

352
8

314

1 ,2 2 2

48

93
640
736
2, 870

T o ta l.......... 27, 257j 33,942 61,199 1,024 40,189

4

4

19
2

1

1

20

1,854 42,043 21, 366

3
126

141

160

17
83

12

161
148
29

11

53
14

643
825
313

165
20

5
5

944
87

47
477
151
819

27
41
330
515

584
3,180
5, 904
6 ,539

51

338
474

359 21, 725 6 , 589 132,580

Of the total number of persons engaged in the skilled trades, as shown
in this table, 46 per cent were proprietors of establishments, 1 per cent
were foremen, 32 per cent were journeymen, 16 per cent were appren­
tices, and 5 per cent were employed at unskilled labor. Of the propri­
etors, 44^ per cent employed labor and 55£ per cent worked alone.
As regards sex, the enumeration shows that out of the 61,199 pro­
prietors in the above table, 1,607 were females. Of the proprietresses
there were 567 who worked alone, that is, who did not employ labor, of
whom 325 were tailoresses, 144 weavers, 19 bakers, 17 shoe and slipper
makers, 16 knitters and embroiderers, 9 butchers, 8 millers, 7 basket




407

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

makers, 6 hairdressers, 3 brush makers, 2 furriers, 2 watchmakers, 1 con­
fectioner, 1 hat and cap maker, 1 saddler, 1 joiner, 1 grinder (cutlery),
1 furniture maker, 1 sieve maker, 1 umbrella maker, and 1 stonecutter.
The remaining 1,040 proprietresses were employers of labor. They rep­
resent almost every trade enumerated, though the greater part fall
within the classes of tailoresses, of whom there were 231, bakers 206,
butchers 98, millers 71, weavers 45, shoe and slipper makers 43, black­
smiths (not specialists) 28, joiners (not specialists) 24, and barbers and
hairdressers 23. Of the total of 1,024 foremen, but 5 were females.
Among the employees there were 803 female journeymen, 405 female
apprentices, and 1,262 females employed at occupations other than
skilled trades.
The next table shows the degree of technical training undergone by
male proprietors of establishments engaged in purely skilled trades.
D U R A T I O N OF A P P R E N T IC E S H IP OF M A L E P R O P R IE T O R S I N S K I L L E D T R A D E S .
N um ber who have served an apprenticeship of years
specified.
Skilled trades.

Barbers and hair
dressers ....................
W i g makers and hair­
dressers .....................
B a k e r s ...........................
Surgical instrument
and bandage m ak­
ers .................................
C o o p e r s........................
B rew ers........................
W e ll d ig g e r s ...............
Bookbinders and pa­
per-box m akers----Brush m akers............
Confectioners...............
R oofers...........................
W ire-draw ers...............
Woo'd turners, pipe
cutters, e t c .............
Printers (book )..........
Printers (on stone,
zinc, copper, etc.) . .
Color printers..............
D y e r s ............................
File cutters..................
Fitters (gas, water
pipes, heating ap­
paratus) .....................
Brass and copper
molders......................
T a n n e rs........................
Pewter, zinc, and
metal molders..........
G la zie rs........................
Bell molders................
J ewelry workers........
Engravers, chasers ..
Glove m akers..............
H at and cap m akers.
Comb m akers..............
T in sm ith s....................
Basket m akers............
F u rriers........................
Coppersmiths...............
Sign and house paint­
ers, lacquerers........
M a so n s...........................
Butchers.......................

Male
pro­
prie­
tors.

ships in—
Over Over Over Over Over
N ot
l,b u t 2 , but 3, but 4, but 5, but
Over
re­
not
not
not
Total. Their
not
not
6.
port­
Other
present
over over over over over
ed.
trades.
4.
2.
3.
6.
5.
trades.

1 or

un­
der.

1,175

133

72
4, 292

1

113
879
326
59
352
165
272
673

126
1
10

16
2
2

605

187

21

4
44
979 2, 513

19
313

3
35

9

10

46
484
149
27

49
169
18
9

4
65

3
14

2

3

4

1

2
1

2
1

8
1

170
60
185
423

122

30

2

62
53
71

12
6

2

13

4

153

2

114
92
g
10

5

9

2
21

10

97

30
4
106
63

8

3

41
55
191

2
2

47
388

12

30
3

8
2

198
31
10
2
66

26

1, 771
2,682
3,365




11 1 ,1 1 1
1

4

72
39 4, 024

109
53

28
14

12
2

5

17
26

2

3

1
2

1

5

33

4

2

1

17
28

5
4

1

18

26
127

3
28

18
238

17
78

3
14

1
1
1

20

65

39

7

5

22

8

1

1

13
410

451
532

1
1

86
66

24
45
4
296
114
78
57

4

7

3
15
54

156
896
364 1, 793
601 2,154

471
272
223

3

94

16
2

278
46

3
3

339
153
262
642

339
148
259
640

5
. 3

1

1

2
2

379
105

376

1

28
4
98
62

28
3
96
62

1
2

4
5

1

2

5

28

13
3

4

50
187

1
1

44
376

43
374

1
2
1

1

138
36
44
118

2

5
143

40
62
107

12

1

6

o

3
45
27
16

11
12
1

11

4

86

24
19
3

62
44

1
2

9

11

19
7

3
3

41

1

3

102

2

53
187

1
1

41

866

3

1

8

72
3,983

281
49

3
8

1,103

110
868

1

1

1

141
36
44
123
23
836
1, 325
182
142

1

1

1

385
123

Number who
have served

138
35
43
116

21

21

828
10 1, 257
182
2
141

823
1,248
180
141

26 1,710
19 2 , 610
24 3,163

1,692
2, 598
3,139

5

1
1
2

5
9
2

18
12

24

408
D U R A T IO N

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
OF A P P R E N T IC E S H IP OF M A L E P R O P R IE T O R S I N
Continued.

S K IL L E D

Number who have served an apprenticeship o f years
specified.
Skilled trades.

M i ll e r s ...........................
M illw r ig h ts.................
M usical-instrum ent
m a k e rs.......................
Pin and needle m ak­
ers .................................
N a ils m ith s ...................
Fringe m akers............
Saddlers and harness
m a k e rs.......................
Ship carpenters..........
Grinders
(knives,
scissors, to o ls)........
Iron workers (not
sp e cia lists)...............
House
and
lock­
smiths .........................
Sale makers..................
Range m a k e rs...........
Ornamental
iron
w o r k e r s ....................
Ironw orkers on vehi­
cles ...............................
Iron workers on m a­
chinery .......................
Iron tu rn ers.................
Tool m a k e rs.................
Blacksm iths (notspe­
cialists) ......................
A x le and spring m ak­
ers .................................
Anchor, anvil, and
ship sm ith s...............
Shapers
(fa9 onsch m ied e).................
Horseshoers and gun­
smiths .........................
C hainsm iths.................
C u tle rs...........................
Scythe and sickle
sm ith s.........................
T o o lsm ith s...................
T a ilo r s ...........................
Chimney sw eeps.........
Joiners (not special­
ists) .............................
H ouse jo in ers..............
W ooden toy and or­
nament m akers----T runk m akers............
Cabinetm akers..........
Cabinetmakers, fancy
inlaid and scroll
w o r k ...........................
Pattern m akers..........
Furniture makers . . .
Floor carpenters.........
Coffin m akers..............
Chair m akers...............
Loom m akers...............
W ooden tool makers.
Shoe
and
slipper
m a k e rs.......................
Soap
and
candle
m a k e rs.......................
Rope m a k e r s ...............
Sieve m ak ers...............
Spur and screw m ak­
ers and riders...........
Um brella and parasol
m a k e rs.......................
Toy and wood work
finishers.....................
Stonecutters.................

Male
pro­
prie­
tors.

Number who
have served
apprentice­
ships in—

Over Over Over Over Over
N ot
l,b u t 2 , but 3, but 4, but 5, but
Over re­
not
Total Their
not
not
not
not
6.
port­
Other
over over over over over
present
ed.
trades.
2.
3.
5.
6.
4.
trades.

1 or

un­
der.

1, 351
58

TRADES—

39

2

682
38

1

4

1

1

8

19

36

40

6
21 j

8

5

40

198

67
9

16
5

7

5

1

1

11

3

3

29 1,043
56

1,016
53

27

36

35

1

2

3

12i
18
20 k
26
1, 095
92

3

1, 713

12

780

3

187

i ..........
1 3 ..........

1

2
10

5

18
127

1
1

1

251
5

52

37

276 1, 098

209

23

1

29

516

190

22

3

6

Q

127
4
7

53

3

12

1

22

1
2

752
80

20
1

4

3 1,087
87

2

35 1,691

j

18
125'
20 '
i
1 , 086,
86 ,
|
1 , 689

2

1
1
2

4

773

767

6

1

184]

2

186
7
12

6
12 '

2
1

3

15

15

2

2

41

41

1

1 6 ..........

1

41

2

6

5
7

25
4
4

136 1,757

12

10
2
1

420

1

]

1

2

2, 511

1

4
.......... |...........

6

5
132

1
10

11

18 2,491

2,483

12

12

19

19

1

1

567
5
136

566
5
135

12
1

19

11

4

2

5;
5'

1

1

8

j
]

1

570
5
140

2

36

3

3

1
42

121

3,692
546

68
2

20

1

43

10

1

1

2

56
5,074

430
3
74

19
3

3
15
401

841
129

132
23

2
8

1
2

7

4

1

9
247

5
108

11

2

6

1
10

1

3

1
2

18
7

20

9

56
18 5,033
1
117

20

18

22 3,645

4

2

1

18

1

7

4

2

2

9, 346

68

51
181
29

4

4

1

8
6

57

920 5, 589 2,127

1

409

11

10
2

1

37

15

2

9

4

2
1

122

2
66

26

3

5

7
277

1

1

7

33

83

7

36

1

3
53
4

28
103

16

545

3,615
543

3

3

10
12

1

1

6

5

2

1

3
15
397

1
1

7
30
2

4
6
12 • j ..........

3
15
396

1

1

18
36

18
36

1

4

1
4

38 9, 270

9, 254

4

1

2

55
5, 026
117

1

2

19
37




21

1

1

21

290 2, 303
32
347

22

2
1

3
169

12
12

7

1

7
26
19
453 3,160 1,153
2
45
32

3

3

1

16

1

44
178
24

44
178
22

2

2

57

56

1

1

24

22

2

3
236

2

i

5
250

1

4

14

409

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.
D U R A T IO N

OF A P P R E N T IC E S H IP OF M A L E P R O P R IE T O R S I N
Concluded.

S K IL L E D

Number who have served an apprenticeship of years
specified.
Skilled trades.

Male
pro­
prie­
tors.

Stone setters
........
92
Knitters
and em­
i
broiderers ..........
199
113
Stucco w orkers..........
Paper hangers, dec­
orators .....................
272
P o tte r s...........................
302
d o th makers
_ _
192
W atch and clock
566
m a k e rs......................
30
Gilders .......................
Finishers of rough
wooden w are..........
414
W agon m a k e rs.......... 1, 980
W eavers........................ 4, 494
C arpen ters.................. 1,571

Over Over Over
1 or

Over Over

1 , but 2 , but 3, but 4, but 5, but

un­
der.

not
over
2.

not
over
3.

not
over
4.

not
over
5.

not
over
6.

1

90
186

3

1

1

2
1

27
50
14

14
2

2

2

80
5

10
1

4

12

7
315
173
148

6

3

48
56
16

22

7

10

T o t a l.................. 59, 592 1, 972 7,199 33, 886 11 , 222 2, 244 j

402

253

12

67

6

48
24

97
53

17
17

4
7
25

137
137
80

101

1

7

15

122

304

1

9

119
114
105
237 1, 291
39
819 1,116 2,132
22 !
163 1,125

89
64

2

89

1

110

182
105

4
5

270
301
186

269
300
183

3

544
29

542
29

7
361
25 1, 961
38 4, 382
1,515
24

353
1, 949
4,365
1,502

488 57, 666

57, 274

1

3

Num ber who
have served
apprentice­
ships in—

N ot
Over re­
Total. Their
6.
port­
Other
present
ed.
trades.
trades.

1

1
22
10

TR ADES—

2
1

3,
26 |
i

1

1
1

2
8
12

17
13
392

It is interesting to note that of the 59,592 male proprietors enumerated
97 per cent served apprenticeships. Of those who served apprentice­
ships, 3.4 per cent served one year or under, 12.5 per cent over one year
but not more than two years, 58.8 per cent over two but not more than
three years, 19.5 per cent over three but not more than four years, 3.9
per cent over four but not more than five years, 0.7 per cent over five
but not more than six years, and 0.4 per cent over six years. In the
case of 0.8 per cent the time was not reported.
Drucksachen der Commission filr Arbeiterstatistic: Hefte I, III.—Erhebung iiber die Arbeitszeit in Backereien und Konditoreien (I Theil,
1892; II Theil, 1893). Hefte II, Y, VII.—Erhebung iiber Arbeitszeit,
Kiindigungsfristen und Lehrlings-Verhaltnisse im Handelsgewerbe
(I Theil, 1893; II Theil, 1894; III Theil, 1894). Hefte IY, Y III.—
Erhebung iiber die Arbeitszeit in Getreidemiihlen (I Theil, 1894;
II Theil, 1895). Hefte YI, IX .—Erhebung iiber die Arbeits- und
Gehalts-Yerhaltnisse der Kellner und Kellnerinnen (I Theil, 1894; II
Theil, 1895).
The foregoing investigations were conducted by the commission on
labor statistics of the German Empire. The duties of the commission,
as defined in the official decree, are (1 ) to undertake the collection and
preparation of statistics of labor, and to give an opinion on the results
whenever requested by the imperial council or the chancellor of the
Empire; (2) to make recommendations to the chancellor regarding the
best means of carrying out this object.
In pursuance of these duties, the commission has thus far issued the
nine reports above enumerated.




410

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The first and third reports (Yols. I, III) are the results of an investi­
gation concerning the hours of labor in bakeries and confectioneries,
conducted by means of schedules of inquiry. The information collected
relates chiefly to hours of labor for a regular day’s work, and at extra
time, in all bakeries and confectioneries; conditions of apprenticeship,
contract of employment, tuition, length of service, education, and hours
of labor of apprentices; housing conditions of employees; application
of machinery in the bakery industries. The second part of the inquiry
relates to an analysis of replies received from master-bakers’ and jour­
neymen’s associations in reference to the introduction of the twelve-hour
working day, the regulation of the hours of labor of apprentices and
children, and Sunday rest. It also contains opinions in reference to
the influence of the work of bakers upon their health.
The second, fifth, and seventh reports (Yols. II, Y, YII) of the
commission contain the results of an investigation covering inquiries
regarding the hours of labor, notice given in case of discontinuance of
employment, and conditions of apprenticeship of employees in the mer­
cantile industries. The first part contains a series of statistical tables
showing the number of employers and employees in each locality enu­
merated, the sex and standing of the latter (whether apprentices or
journeymen), hours of opening and of closing the establishments, actual
working hours at regular and at extra time for each sex, length required
of notice of discontinuance of employment, and the number of employees
boarding or lodging with their employers, or living in dwellings rented
of the latter. The inquiry covers 8,235 establishments in 389 localities,
and employing 23,725 persons. The second and third parts of this
inquiry contain a presentation and discussion of replies to inquiries sent
to mercantile associations throughout Germany regarding the extent to
which the existing hours of labor may be regarded as detrimental to the
physical and intellectual condition of employees; in what manner,
under existing conditions, the time of labor may be reduced without
being harmful to the business interests and to the public; the reasons
for or against the enactment of a law fixing a minimum period of notice
to be required for the severance of the relations of employers and their
employees; and, finally, the advisability and practicability of adopting
a uniform hour for closing establishments.
The fourth and eighth reports (Yols. IY, YIII) relate to similar
inquiries regarding the hours of labor in flour mills. Statistics cover
chiefly the hours of labor and Sunday rest in steam, water power, and
wind mills.
The sixth and ninth reports (Yols. Y I, IX ) contain the results of
inquiries regarding the labor and wage conditions of waiters and wait­
resses, the influence of the present working day upon the health, educa­
tion, and domestic life of employees, the regulation of working hours




FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

411

for adults and children, Sunday rest, gratuities, lines, and employment
agencies. The replies were received from hotel and restaurant proprie­
tors7associations and waiters7and cooks7unions. Statistics of sickness
and mortality collated from local sick funds are also presented.
Die Belegschaft der BergwerTce und Salinen im OberbergamtsbezirJc Dort­
mund, nach der Zdhlung vom 16. December 1893. Zusammengestellt
von O. Taeglichsbeek, koniglichen Berghauptmann und Oberbergamtsdirektor zu Dortmund. Erster Tkeil, 1895, xxxi, 461 pp.: Zweiter
Theil, 1896, lxii, 663 pp.
This report is the result of a census enumeration taken by the cen­
tral mining office of Dortmund with the cooperation of the Mine Oper­
ators7Association at Essen, on December 16, 1893. It relates to the
economic and social conditions of the officials and employees at the
mines and salt works within the jurisdiction of the central mining
office (Oberbergamtsbezirk) at Dortmund. The territory covered by
the report includes the provinces of Westphalia and Hanover, the
principality of Siegen, the districts of Osnabriiek and Aurich, the
counties of Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein and Wittgenstein-Berleburg,
the towns of Burbach and Neunkirchen, and in Rhenish Prussia, the
subdivisions of Rees, Duisburg, Essen, and parts of Dusseldorf and
Elberfeld.
Within this territory are found deposits of coal, iron, zinc, lead, sul­
phur, and salt. The chief mining industry is that of coal, over one-half
of the total output of Germany coming from this section.
According to the enumeration of December 16,1893, the total number
of persons engaged in the mines, salt works, and mineral baths of the
Dortmund district was 158,368. These were distributed as follows:
155,934, or 98.46 per cent, in 164 coal mines; 2,147, or 1.36 per cent, in
24 ore mines; 225, or 0.14 per cent, in 5 salt works; 62, or 0.04 per cent,
at the Government mineral baths at Oeynhausen.
As the number of persons employed in other than coal-mining indus­
tries is comparatively insignificant, about 1J per cent of the whole, the
information is chiefly valuable as regards coal-mine workers. Concern­
ing female labor, the enumeration shows that of the total employees of
all the industries treated, only 27 were females. These were engaged at
various mineral mines. There were no women engaged in any capac­
ity at the coal mines and salt works.
The two volumes comprising this report consist mainly of statistical
tables, but 93 out of a total of 1,217 pages being devoted to text. The
figures are given in the greatest detail, each establishment being sepa­
rately treated. A review of the more important facts is presented
below.
3687—'No. 4----- 6




412

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

In the establishments considered the ages of employees and officials
vary from 14 to over 60 years, as shown in the following table:
A G E OF O F F IC I A L S A N D E M P L O Y E E S .

A g e (years).

E n gi­
A ctu al
Day
Officials. neers and
mine
laborers.
firemen. workers.
313
488
309
317
367
356
276
260

46 to 4 7 .................................................................
48 to 5 0 .................................................................
51 to 5 5 .................................................................
56 to 6 0 .................................................................
Over 6 0 ..................................... ............................

131
141
140
133
144
163
170
187
177
164
141
165
165
158
165
153
160
157
242
332
589
286
183

137
141
131
134
151
126
140
160
143
154
155
154
139
152
161
139
147
163
153
133
276
345
479
281
163

982
1,479
3, 930
4, 913
5, 712
6 , 230
4,784
4,156
3, 097
4,713
5,136
5,118
5,037
5,164
4,747
4, 751
4, 525
3, 920
3^ 656
3,675
3, 727
3,410
3,183
2, 725
2, 508
2, 533
2, 598
2, 389
2, 325
2 , 202
2,091
1, 873
2, 696
3, 565
3, 749
1 , 602
701

T o t a l.........................................................

4, 976

5, 586

129, 602

11, 721

11

15.............................................................................

16

17.............................................................................

12
20

19.............................................................................
2 0 ..............................................................................

20
11

13

2 2 .............................................................................

23.............................................................................
24.............................................................................
25.............................................................................
26.............................................................................
27.............................................................................
28.............................................................................
29.............................................................................
30.............................................................................
31.
.............................................................
32..............................................................................
33.............................................................................
34.............................................................................
35.............................................................................
36...........................................................................
37.............................................................................
38..............................................................................
3 9 . . . .......................................................................
40.............................................................................
41.............................................................................
42.............................................................................
43..............................................................................

17
27
51
56
85
80
111

137
168
97
100
88

77
51
69
48
78
116
100

202

301
374
336
294
293
257
284
277
283
279
264
276
250
250
226
226
228
237
247
251
189
210

193
403
580
794
565
466

Other
occupa­
tions. ^
513
631
228
139
138
128

Total.

157
236
307
191
142

1, 956
2, 782
4, 576
5,489
6,318
6,811
5,234
4, 589
3,466
5, 282
5, 838
5, 809
5, 715
5, 907
5, 431
5, 485
5, 280
4, 629
4| 381
4, 410
4, 486
4,167
3,913
3,376
3,147
3,190
3, 282
3, 058
3,001
2, 827
2, 735
2,468
3,774
5, 058
5, 918
2,925
1, 655

6,483

158,368

112

87
92
139
156
170
167
198
165
175
187
167
162
148
170
166
148
107
133
112
121

125
113
120
121
112

The age of 19 years, which immediately precedes entry upon military
service, is best represented, there being a much smaller number of
employees of each age from 20 to 23 years, which are the ages of mili­
tary service. After the period of military service, the age of 27 years
is best represented. From that age onward there is an almost steady
decrease in number for each succeeding year, especially in the case of
mine workers.
The number of married employees is comparatively large when it is
considered that over one-half of all employees were under 30 years of
age. Of the 158,368 persons reported 91,648, or 57.87 per cent, were
married; 2,466, or 1.56 per cent, were widowed and divorced, and 64,254,
or but 40.57 per cent, were single.
S tability of occupations.—This subject receives more attention
than any other, and is illustrated by tables showing the number of
officials and employees who follow the occupations of their fathers, the
length of service in the same occupation of all officials and employees,
and the number remaining in the same establishment during their
entire period of service.




413

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS,

It is shown that 59,256, or 37.42 per cent, of the officials and employees
in all the industries considered followed the same occupation as their
fathers. In coal mining the per cent was greatest, being 37.60; in
other mines it was 27.11 per cent, and in the salt works it was 16.89
per cent.
The percentage was greatest in sections where the industries were
of longest duration. Thus, for instance, the percentage of coal mine
employees whose fathers were also miners was, in South Dortmund,
47.17; in Hattingen, 52.06; and in Werden, 55.69, while in Gelsen­
kirchen, Recklinghausen, and Herne, districts in which coal mining is
of more recent development, the percentages were, respectively, 28.36,
27.34, and 27.12.
The following table shows the length of service of officials and
employees at their present occupations, and the number of these who
remained in the same establishments during the entire period specified
in each case:
Y E A R S OF S E R V IC E O F O F F IC I A L S A N D E M P L O Y E E S A T T H E S A M E O C C U P A T IO N S
A N D IN T H E S A M E E S T A B L IS H M E N T S .
Engineers and
firemen.

Officials.
of
service.

1 ............
2 ............
3 ............
4 ............
5 ............
6 ............
7 ............
8 ............ '
9 ............
1 0 ..........
1 1 ..........
1 2 ..........
13..........
14..........
15..........
16..........
17..........
18..........
19..........
2 0 ..........
2 1 ..........
2 2 ..........
23..........
24..........
25..........
26..........
27..........
28..........
29..........
30..........
31..........
32..........
33..........
34..........
35..........
36..........
37..........
38..........
39..........
40..........
41..........
42..........
43..........

A ctual mine
workers.

D ay laborers.

Other occupa­
tions.

Total.

At
In same A t
In same
At
In same A t
In same A t
In same A t
In same
same estab­ same estab­ same estab­ same estab­ same estab­ same estab­
occu­
lish ­
lish­
occu­
occu­
lish­
occu­
lish­
occu­
lish­
occu­
lish­
pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment.
88

88

84
94
77
72
59
63
56
108
127
144
160
169
154
153
139
142
175
162
227
171
175
181
134
146
138
141
143
129
136

74

100

87
88

63
93

68

51
51
36
36
30
54
51
55
44
43
31
34
25
32
50
39
57
51
45
43
26
22

26
24
15
18
16
18
13
13
13
13

88

12

93
90

14
15

66

8
6

56
39
26
31

3
1
6




692
385
394
314
216
148
124
136
132
174
145
161
156
110
122
102

95
144
133
205
145
125
133
88
120

95
86

85
79
71
43
42
50
33
49
46
49
45
28
23
9
13
9

692 14. 284
334 8,995
315 10 , 601
230 9.825
142 7, 581
96 5,448
73 4,381
67 4,126
62 4,189
87 5, 596
83 4, 573
75 4, 589
75 4, 351
53 3, 355
49 3, 093
43 2,342
48 2, 291
56 2, 697
44 2, 351
91 3, 666
64 2, 445
48 2 , 266
41 2, 399
25 1,879
28 1,843
16 1,484
22
1, 430
23 1,319
29 1,103
13 1,156
8
569
9
537
7
526
7
387
10
381
8
376
13
280
8
223
6
182
5
186
1
78
2
57
1
46

14,284
6 , 671
7,180
5, 676
3, 802
2,147
1,435
1,168
1,141
1, 347
1,124
940
836
541
390
301
331
405
343
504
326
294
275
173
163
152
168
139
102

92
62
46
50
40
41
35
28
24
15
7
4
4
2

2, 970
1, 279
1,093
761
499
350
247
258
243
325
279
275
245
182
175
132
150
168
178
273
168
131
130
95
114
120

93
76
65
108
54
52
51
40
57
48
42
35
34
30
19
9
14

2, 970
1, 085
875
562
330
234
152
160
135
184
171
155
142
84
83
74
78
89
92
123
80
60
51
30
29
48
18
16
18
16
15

2,172
841
618
493
345
206
170
136
133
186
152
125
109
70
71
51
56
63
48
67
56
49
26
28
30
33
26
16
17
16
3

2,172
689
473
334
224
115
91

10

9

15

7

3

6
10

6

1

7
4
8

4
7
2
1
1

9

66

67
105
70
62
53
25
25
19
25
28
20
20

17
17
9
9
9
7
10

7
5
5
2

10

5
3
3
5
3

2
1

2
1

i

20,206
11, 584
12 , 800
11,470
8 , 713
6 ,211

4, 985
4, 712
4, 805
6,408
5, 293
5,310
5,030
3, 871
3, 614
2, 766
2, 734
3,247
2, 872
4, 438
2, 985
2, 746
2, 869
2, 224
2, 253
1, 870
1,776
1, 639
1,393
1,487
769

20 , 206
8 , 853
8 , 911
6 , 853

4, 549
2 , 628
1,787
1,491
1,459
1, 774
1,503
1,276
1,149
734
581
462
514
628
538
795
538
464
419
263
251
249
242
200

172
142
105

797
i&I

to

722
529
589
568
469
396
313
300
148
107

88

101

67
7A
14
fiO
0.5
kq

oy
DO

35
26
10
g

11

414

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

Y E A E S O F S E E V I C E O F O F F IC I A L S A N D E M P L O Y E E S A T T H E S A M E O C C U P A T IO N S
A N D I N T H E S A M E E S T A B L I S H M E N T S — Concluded.
Engineers and
firemen.

Officials.

A ctu al mine
workers.

D ay laborers.

Other occupa­
tions.

Total.

Years
At
In same
At
In same
of
In same
At
In same
At
At
In same
A t In same
service. same estab- same estab- same estab­ same estab­ same estab­ same estab­
occulishocculish­
occulishlish­
occu­
occu­
lish­
occu­
lish­
pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment. pation. ment.
44..........
45..........
46..........
47..........
48 ___
4 9 ........
50..........
51..........
52..........
53 ___
54..........
5 5 ........
56..........
57..........
58 ___
59..........
Total.

13
22

13
14
9
5
9
6

6

2
2
1
2
1
1

7
8

1
1
2

35
28
16

4

12

2
2

7
3
7
4

3
1

5
6
2
1
2
1

1
1
1

1

2

10

3

17
7
4
4

6
1

1

1
1
2

4
2
2
1

1
2
1
1
1

1
1

1

1

1, 382

5, 586

3,113 129, 602 52,810 11, 721

4

24

2
1
2
1

12

3

22
12

8

1

1

6
11

7

1

4, 976

65
76
44
35

8,248

6,483

4
4

1

2
1
1
2

1

4, 788 158,368

70, 341

As the industries in this section are largely in a stage of rapid devel­
opment, a greater number of employees are found to have been engaged
in their present occupations for one year or under than for any other
period of service. There is an almost steady decrease for each suc­
ceeding period. The only decided exception is found in the number
employed seven, eight, and nine years. The abnormal decrease shown
here is due to military service, for if the persons mostly entered upon
their occupations at the minimum age, 14 years, they would have
attained the ages of 21, 22, and 23 years, respectively, which ages, as
has been shown, correspond to the period of military service.
Of all the employees and officials, 70,341, or 44.42 per cent, remained
in the service of the same establishments during the entire time of
employment at their present occupations.
The enumeration showed that out of the total number of employees
and officials 154,517, or 97.57 per cent, had completed their elementary
education. This percentage would undoubtedly have been greater
were it not for the large influx of foreigners, which is always present
where industries are rapidly developing. In some other sections ol
this mining district, where the industries are older, the illiterates com­
prise less than one-half of 1 per cent.




415

FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

In the accompanying table is given a general review of the housing
conditions of the employees and officials as regards house ownership
and tenancy:
O F F IC I A L S A N D E M P L O Y E E S O W N I N G H O U SE S A N D L I V I N G
I N R E N T E D H O U SE S A N D L O D G IN G S .

IN

T H E IR O W N A N D

L iving in rented houses, lodgings, etc.
Living
In ­
Lodged
Officials and employees House in their T en ­
Lodged
Ten­
mates
with
in—
owners.
own
with
ants
Total.
ants of of lodg­ private
par­
houses. of em­
others.
ing
fam i­
ployers.
ents.
houses.
lies.

Total
officials
and
employ­
ees.

Coal m in es:
14,532
770
W iSow ed
yrvrpp.d

and
-

di__

T o t a l .........................
Ore m ines:
M arried........................
Single ...........................
W idow ed and diynreed ...................
T o t a l .........................
Salt w o rk s:
Married ____ . .
Single.............................
W idow ed and diynrepd
T o t a l .........................
Mineral b ath s:
Married .......................
Single
__ __
W idow ed and diynreed
__

394
15, 696

431
494

2, 327
73
1

13,417

381

60

22

641

947

31, 809

35

7
19

17
168

2

2

19

28

204

2, 460

73, 018

12
11

3, 564
27. 604

404

389

37

73

70

2

2

43
4

6

5

1

81

77

48

30

30

3

1 , 060

89, 953
63, 580
2, 401
34,283 142, 517

1,467
623
57
429

1, 758

7

1

5

29

148

1

1

31

31

3

14

Total officials and
employees............

16,212

13, 914

2, 548

74,158

225
47
14

3

Total...........................

2,147
181
37

4

66

155, 934

1

3
975

32, 021

31

62

34, 752 144,454

158, 368

11

It is interesting to note the comparatively large proportion of house
owners, namely, 16,212 or 10.24 per cent. These, however, did not all
occupy their own homes, 14.17 per cent of their number living in rented
houses or lodgings. Of the total officials and employees, 8.79 per cent
lived in their own homes, 1.61 per cent were tenants of their employers,
46.83 per cent lived in other rented houses, 0.61 lived in lodging houses,
21.94 lived with their parents, and 20.22 per cent boarded with stran­
gers. Seven hundred and eighty-four of the house owners were single
men. On an average, each family occupied three rooms.




416

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The distance from residence to place of work is shown for each person
in the accompanying table:
D IS T A N C E

BETW EEN

R E S ID E N C E

AND PLACE
EM PLOYEES.

Coal mines.
Distance of residence from place o f
work.

Per­
sons.

OF

WORK

OF

Mineral
baths.

Salt works.

Ore mines.

O F F IC IA L S

Per Per­ Per Per­ Per Per­ Per
cent. sons. cent. sons. cent. sons. cent.

AND

Total.
Per­
sons.

Per
cent.

2.5 miles and u n d er................................. 133,780 85.79 1,382 64.37
Over 2.5 and not exceeding 4.7m iles. 18,969 12.16
663 30.88
Over 4.7 and not exceeding 6 . 8 m iles.
2, 641 1. 70
93 4. 33
332 0 .2 1
Over 6 .8 and not exceeding 9.3 miles.
5 0. 23
212
0.14
4 0.19
Over 9.3 m ile s ...........................................

207 92.00
13 5.78
2
0.89
1.33

95.16 135,428 85. 51
4.84 19,648 12.41
2, 736 1. 73
337 0 .2 1
219 0.14

T o ta l..................................................... 155, 934 100 . 00 2,147 100 .00

225 1 00.00

62 100 .00 158, 368 100 .00

1 2 0 .0 0

4 80.00

645 19. 59
1, 264 38.40
717 21.78
666 20. 23

5 1 00.00

3, 292 100 .00

Persons living over 4.7 m ile s:
In their own houses............................
I n rented dw ellings.............................
Lodging w ith parents.........................
Lodging with strangers.....................
Total living over 4.7 m iles..........
Average distance of residence
from place of work (m iles)___

630
1,205
697
653

19. 78
37.83
21.89
20. 50

14 13. 73
55 53.92
20 19. 61
13 12.74

3,185 100 .00

102 100 . 00

1.5

3

59
3

1.5

1.4

1.4

2 .2

It appears from the preceding table that as a rule the employees
live within walking distance of their places of work, 85.51 per cent
having not over 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to go. The average distance
of all was 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles). Of those who lived so far distant
as to be compelled to use conveyances, namely, 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles)
and over, only 19.59 lived in their own homes. Nearly twice the num­
ber, 38.40 per cent, lived in rented dwellings, 21.78 per cent boarded
with their parents, and 20.23 per cent boarded with strangers.
The next table shows the number of persons depending upon officials
and employees for their support.
P E R SO N S D E P E N D E N T U P O N O F F IC I A L S A N D E M P L O Y E E S .
Children.

Par­
ents Broth­ Total
ers
de­
W h o l­ and
pend­
ly de­ grand­ and
Total.
par­
sisters.
ents.
pend­
D augh­
Daugh­
ents.
Sons.
Sons.
ent.
ters.
ters.

Under 14 years Over 14 years
of age.
of age.
Industries. Wives.

Coalm ining. 89,955 114,101 109,051 35,290
1,466 1,849
1,869
875
Ore m ining .
218
204
107
180
Salt w o rk s..
M ineral
72
55
47
28
bath s.........
T o t a l. 91,648 116,223 111, 196 36,300

32,047 290,489 237,496 24,776
784 5,377 4,054
545
93
36
622
522
29

184

164

9

32,953 296,672 242, 236 25,366

Total
Total
offi­
sup­
cials
ported
and
by the
em­
indus­
ploy­
tries.
ees.

6 ,739 411,959 155,934 567, 893
8

7,506
846

2,147
225

9,653
1,071

1

241

62

303

118

6 , 866 420,552 158, 368 578,920

1

The average number of persons depending upon an official or em­
ployee was 2.66. Of the dependents, 21.79 per cent were wives, 70.55
per cent children, 6.03 per cent parents and grandparents, and 1.63 per
cent brothers and sisters. Over three-fourths of the dependent children
were under 14 years of age.




ANNUAL STATISTICAL ABSTRACTS.

In the first issue of the Bulletin a brief note was given indicating
the Governments of the world which had created statistical bureaus,
the sole or special object of which was to investigate and report on the
conditions under which labor is prosecuted. In all cases the creation
of these bureaus is of recent date. The nations of Europe and Amer­
ica have not waited, however, for the establishment of these special
bureaus before entering upon the collection and presentation of statis­
tical information concerning labor and social conditions, and the reports
of such bureaus are by no means the sole source of statistical informa­
tion concerning these questions. The various departments of the dif­
ferent Governments, especially those departments concerned with
industry, commerce, or public? works, have sooner or later found it
necessary to organize more or less complete statistical services, and
within the field of their investigations it has often been advisable to
include the collection of information concerning matters purely social.
Scattered through the various reports of the independent departments
or bureaus of all Governments there is, therefore, information of a
strictly statistical character of immediate and important bearing upon
labor conditions.
The great number and variety of these publications and the greater
or less difficulty in obtaining access to them renders it almost impossi­
ble to gain even a knowledge of their existence, much less a familiarity
with their nature and contents. Becognizing this, practically every
nation of importance has undertaken the publication of an annual
statistical abstract in which are presented in summary form the most
important statistical tables appearing in all of the various official
reports of the Government. These abstracts, therefore, do not in them­
selves represent original investigations, but only brief summaries of
the results of inquiries made by various bureaus. In the great majority
of cases where information is sought, a reference to these compilations
is sufficient.
The following, made from the latest accessible abstracts, is given in
order to show for at least the more important nations the periods dur­
ing which such abstracts have been issued and in a general way the
nature of the subjects concerning which information is given.
In this presentation no effort is made to enter into particulars. Only
the most general headings are employed. Thus, for instance, the single
caption “ Agricultural Statistics” is made to embrace all the informa­
tion bearing in any way upon agricultural matters.



417

418

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

BELGIUM.
Annuaire Statistique de la Belgique fMinistere de PInterieur et de
PInstruetion Publique].
Published since 1870.
CONTENTS.

Area and population:
Territorial extent, division of prop­
erty.
Population, ages, nationality, educa­
tion, occupations, etc.
Houses.
Families.
Births, deaths, marriages, divorces.
Immigration and emigration.
Political statistics (elections).
Education.
Publications, libraries, and schools of art
and music.
Savings and benevolent institutions:
Savings banks.
People’s banks (cooperative socie­
ties).
Pawnshops.
Mutual aid societies.
Employment bureaus.
Workingmen’s houses.
Miners’ relief and pension funds.
Religious statistics.
Statistics of insane and idiotic.
Medical profession.
Administration of justice:
Court records.
Crime.

Administration of justice— Concluded.
Jails, reformatories, etc.
Army.
Government finance (receipts, expendi­
tures, debt, etc.).
Production:
Agriculture and forestry.
Mines and mining (includes statistics
of number of employees, wages, ac­
cidents, etc.).
Manufactures (includes statistics of
number of employees, wages, acci­
dents, boards of arbitration, etc.).
Trade and commerce:
Foreign commerce (imports, exports,
customs receipts).
Navigation.
Fisheries.
Wealth.
Insurance.
Financial institutions (banks, currency).
Transportation:
Railways (includes statistics of acci­
dents).
Tramways.
Waterways.
Postal, telegraph, and telephone services.

The authorities are indicated by footnotes.
HOLLAND.
Jaareijfers [uitgegeven door de Oentrale Oommissie voor de Statistiek]:
Annuaire Statistique des Pays-Bas [Publie par la Commission Centrale
de Statistique].
Published since 1881.
CONTENTS.

Area.
Meteorology.
Population:
Houses.
Families.
Births, deaths, marriages, divorces.
Emigration.




Defective classes (blind, deaf and dumb,
etc.).
Education.
Economic statistics:
Occupations.
Prices of commodities.
Public charity.

ANNUAL STATISTICAL ABSTRACTS.
contents—

Economic statistics— Concluded.
Savings and relief institutions.
Insurance.
Wealth, debt, inheritances, etc.
Administration of justice:
Court records.
Failures.
Prisons and crime.
Production:
Mines and mining.
Fisheries.
Agriculture (includes statistics of
prices).
Manufactures (includes statistics of
inspection of factories).
Spirituous liquors.

419

con clu d ed .

Production— Concluded.
Sugar.
Commerce (includes prices of principal
commodities).
Navigation.
Financial institutions (hanks, currency,
etc.).
Transportation:
Roads and canals.
Railroads (includes statistics of acci­
dents).
Tramways.
Postal and telegraph services.
Government finances (receipts, expendi­
tures, taxation, debt).
Army and navy.

FRANCE.
Annuaire Statistique de la France [Office du Travail, Ministere du
Commerce, de Tlndustrie, des Postes et des Telegraplies].
Published since 1878.
CONTENTS.

List of publications of the Bureau de la
Statistique G6n6rale (General Statisti­
cal Bureau) since 1833.
List of official publications from which
material for the abstract was taken.
Area and population:
Territorial extent and geographical
distribution of population.
Population by age, sex, conjugal con­
dition, occupation, etc.
Marriages, births, deaths.
Emigration and immigration.
Religious denominations.
Administration of justice:
Criminal cases.
Civil and commercial cases.
Military cases.
Maritime cases.
Administrative tribunals.
Prison statistics.
Public assistance and benevolent institu­
tions.
Provident institutions:
National and private savings banks.
Mutual aid societies.
Old-age pension fund.
Civil pensions.
Relief work in cases of disasters, etc.
Pawnshops.
Education (includes schools of art and
music).




Production:
Agriculture and forestry.
Mines and manufactures.
Manufactures by the Government (to­
bacco and matches).
Labor:
Labor exchanges.
Employment bureaus.
Wages and hours of work.
Strikes.
Labor unions.
Accidents and factory inspection.
Cooperation.
Transportation:
Waterways.
Public roads.
Railways.
Tramways.
Postal, telegraph, and telephone services.
Domestic and foreign commerce.
Navigation and fisheries.
Government finance:
Receipts and expenditures.
Direct and indirect taxes.
Public debt.
Financial institutions, banks, currency,
real estate values, etc.
Election statistics.
Newspapers and periodicals.
Military and naval statistics.
Algeria, Tunis, and the colonies.

420

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

GREAT BRITAIN.
Statistical Abstract fo r the United Kingdom [Commercial, Labor, and
Statistical Department, Board of Trade].
Published since 1853.
CONTENTS.

Government receipts, expenditures, debts.
Imports and exports.
Finance:
Bullion and specie.
Coinage.
Accumulative Government stocks.
Transshipments.
Prices of products, imports, and ex­
ports.
Production:
Agriculture.
Fisheries.
Textiles.
Mines.
Shipping.
Transportation:
Railways.
Tramways.
Joint-stock companies.

Banking:
Savings hanks.
Bank o f England.
Clearing house, etc.
Provident institutions:
Building societies.
Industrial and provident societies.
Life assurance.
Postal service.
Population.
Births, deaths, and marriages.
Emigration and immigration.
Army and police service.
Education.
Administration of justice:
Crime.
Bankruptcy.
Patents and trade-marks.
Wrecks and lives lost.

GERMANY.
Statistisches Jahrbucli fu r das Deutsche Reich [Kaiserliches statistisches
Amt].
Published since 1880.
CONTENTS.

Area and population:
Territorial extent of the German
States.
Population hy age, sex, place of birth,
and religion.
Marriages, births, and deaths.
Emigration.
Production:
Agriculture and forestry.
Mines and mining.
Manufactures.
Trade and transportation:
Internal commerce.
Foreign commerce.
Railways.
Postal and telegraph services.
Consumption and prices:
Consumption of products.

Consumption and prices— Concluded.
Wholesale prices.
Government finance (receipts, expendi­
tures, debts, etc.).
Administration of justice:
Court records.
Crime.
Bankruptcy.
Workingmen’s insurance:
Sick-benefit insurance.
Accident insurance.
Invalid and old-age insurance.
German colonies.
Parliamentary elections.
Army and navy.
Meteorological data.
Medical statistics.

An appendix contains a list of sources of information and a scries of
graphic charts.



ANNUAL STATISTICAL ABSTRACTS,

421

AUSTRIA.
Oesterreiehisches statistisches Handbuchfu r die im Reichsrathe vertretenen
Konigreiclie und Lander [k. k. statistische Central-Commission],
Published since 1882.
CONTENTS.

Area and population:
Territorial extent, division of prop­
erty.
Population, ages, places of birth,
domicile, sex, religion, etc.
Marriages, births, and deaths.
Immigration and emigration.
Production:
Agriculture and forestry (includes
prices of agricultural products and
wages).
Mines and mining (includes number
of employees, accidents, and benev­
olent institutions).
Manufactures (includes working­
men’s accident and sick-benefit in­
surance).
Trade and transportation:
Fisheries.
Foreign commerce.
Waterways.
Railways (includes statistics of acci­
dents).
Postal, telegraph, and telephone services.
Education.
Religion.

Health service and benevolent institu­
tions :
Physicians, surgeons, and apotheca­
ries.
Hospitals
Asylums for the insane, blind, deaf
and dumb, and foundlings.
Causes of death.
Benevolent institutions.
Societies.
Business corporations.
Administration of justice:
Court records.
Crime.
Prison service.
Financial institutions and Government
finance:
Banks.
Currency.
Government receipts, expenditures,
and debt.
Stock quotations.
Army and navy.
Newspapers and other periodicals.
Damages by fire and hail.

SWITZERLAND.
Statistisches Jahrbueh der Schweiz [Statistisches Bureau des eidg.
Departements des Innern]: Annuaire Statistique de la Suisse [Bureau
de Statistique du Departemeut Federal de Tlnterieur].
Published since 1891.
CONTENTS.

Area and population:
Territorial extent.
Population.
Marriages, births, divorces, deaths,
etc.
Emigration.
Production:
Agriculture.
Forestry.
Pisciculture.
Mining.
Manufactures.
Postal, telegraph, and telephone serv­
ices.




Transportation:
Railways.
Tramways.
Steam navigation.
Commerce, domestic and foreign (in­
cludes income from customs duties, etc.)
Insurance (life, accident, marine, and fire).
Banks.
Prices of food products.
Hygiene, sanitary police, and assistance:
Asylums for epileptics, insane, alco­
holism, etc.
Hospitals.
Diseases.

422

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
co ntents—

c o n c lu d e d .

Prison system.
Army.
Political statistics (elections),
Meteorology.

Accidents.
Education.
Government finance:
Receipts, expenditures, etc.
Coinage and currency.

ITALY.
Annuario Statistico Italiano [Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e
Commercio, Direzione Generale Della Statistical
Published since 1878.
CONTENTS.

Meteorology.
Area and population:
Territorial extent.
Population.
Marriages, births, deaths.
Emigration.
Public health:
Physicians, surgeons, and apothe­
caries.
Diseases.
Causes of deaths.
Education.
Libraries.
Administration of justice:
Civil cases.
Criminal cases.
Prison service.
Publications:
Periodicals.
Other publications.
Mutual aid and cooperative associations:
Mutual benefit societies.
Cooperative banks, stores, manufac­
tories, etc.
Public assistance and benevolent insti­
tutions.
Army and navy.
Foreign commerce.
Navigation.

Duties on certain imports and exports.
Mortgage debts.
Production:
Agriculture.
Manufactures.
Mines.
Fisheries.
Prices of certain food products.
Workingmen’s wages in certain in­
dustries.
Postal, telegraph, and telephone services.
Political statistics (elections).
Money and credit:
Coinage.
Paper currency.
Government bonds and exchange.
Banks and credit institutions.
Transportation:
Public roads.
Tramways.
Railways.
Government finance:
Commercial receipts, expenditures,
debts, etc.
Provincial receipts, expenditures,
debts, etc.
National
receipts,
expenditures,
debts, etc.
Colonial possessions and protectorates.

The authorities are given in connection with each chapter.




. ANNUAL STATISTICAL ABSTRACTS.

423

RUSSIA.
Annuaire Statistique de la Bussie [Publication du Comite Central de
Statistique, Ministere de PInterieur].
Published since 1882.
CONTENTS.

Area and population:
Territorial extent.
Population.
Marriages, births, and deaths.
Emigration.
Health service:
Hospitals.
Physicians, apothecaries, etc.
Number of blind.
Epidemics.
Political statistics:
Elections.
Officials and members of assemblies.
Rural police.
Insurance (fire, marine, and life).
Production:
Agriculture (includes statistics of
wages and prices).
Manufactures (includes statistics of
employees and accidents in the
metal industry).

Produc fcion— Concluded.
Mines.
Trade and commerce:
Number and tonnage of vessels.
Imports and exports.
Coinage and currency.
Transportation (railways).
Postal, telegraph, and telephone services.
Government finance (receipts, expendi­
tures, public debt, etc).
Banks and savings institutions.
Real estate:
Peasant proprietorship.
Mortgage debts.
Publishing houses, libraries, reading
rooms, etc.
Churches, convents, etc.
Military statistics.
Education.
Criminal statistics.
Meteorological data.

NORWAY.
Statistislc Aarbog for Kongeriget Norge [Udgivet af Det Statistiske Cen­
tral-Bureau] : Annuaire Statistique de la Norvege.
Published since 1879.
CONTENTS.

Area and population:
Territorial extent.
Population by sex, age, conjugal con­
dition, etc.
Marriages, births, and deaths.
Emigration.
Health service:
Hospitals.
Causes of deaths.
Diseases and epidemics.
Administration of justice i
Court records.
Crimes.
Failures.
Public assistance.
Education.




Production:
Agriculture and forestry.
Manufactures (includes statistics of
wages).
Fisheries.
Mining.
Commerce and navigation (imports, ex
ports, customs duties).
Transportation:
Public roads.
Railways.
Postal and telegraph services.
Banking institutions.
Fire and marine insurance.
Finance (local and national Government
receipts, expenditures, debts, etc.).

424

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

SWEDEN.
Sveriges Officiela Statistic i Sammandrag [Statistisk Tidskrift utgifven
af Kungl. Statistiska Centralbyr&n].
Published since 1860.
CONTENTS.

Area and population:
Territorial divisions.
Population by sex, age, conjugal con­
dition, religious persuasion, etc.
Marriages, births, and deaths.
Immigration and emigration.
Occupations by sex.
Blind, deaf and dumb, and insane.
Education.
Administration of justice:
Court records.
Crimes and misdemeanors.
Prison service.
Public health.
Statistics of pauperism and public chari­
ties.
Production:
Agriculture.

Production— Concluded.
Forestry.
Manufactures.
Mining.
Commerce and navigation:
Tariff rates.
Foreign commerce.
Prices.
PUotage, life-saving and light-house
service.
Transportation (railways).
Postal, telegraph, and telephone serv­
ices.
Government finance (receipts, expendi­
tures, debts, etc.).
Banks.
Election statistics.
Wages.

DENMARK.
Danmarks Statistik; Statistisk Aarbog [Udgivet af Statens Statistiske
Bureau]: Statistique du Danemark; Annuaire Statistique [Public par
le Bureau de Statistique de PEtat].
Publication commenced in 1896.
CONTENTS.

Sources of information.
Money, weights, and measures.
Area and population:
Territorial divisions.
Population by sex, age, conjugal
condition, place of birth, religion,
etc.
Births, marriages, and deaths.
Emigration.
Occupations according to sex.
Agricultural statistics (including prices
of cereals).
Manufactures.
Imports and exports.
Production of brandy, beer, artificial
butter, and beet sugar.
Production of principal articles of con­
sumption.
Navigation.
Fisheries.




Shipwrecks.
Transportation (railways).
Postal and telegraph services.
Finance:
Banks.
Joint-stock companies.
Mortgage statistics.
Pawnshops.
Insurance (fire, marine, and life).
Administration of justice.
Education.
Publications.
Subsidies for old-age pensions.
Mutual aid societies.
Recruitment of army.
Election statistics.
Finances of the communes.
Finances o f the State.

Meteorology.

DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.
[This subject, begun in Bulletin No. 2, will be continued in successive issues, deal­
ing with the decisions as they occur. All material parts of the decisions are repro­
duced iu the words of the courts, indicated, when short, by quotation marks, and
when long by being printed solid. In order to save space immaterial matter, needed
simply by way of explanation, is given in the words of the editorial reviser.]

DECISIONS UNDER STATUTORY LAW .
C o n s t it u t io n a l it y

of

A

ct

P r o v id in g

for,

A

ttorneys’

Fees

The constitutionality of the act of June 1,
1889, of Illinois, providing for taxing attorneys’ fees as costs in actions
brought by servants for wages which they have previously demanded
in writing, was drawn in question in the case of Yogel et al. v. Pekoe
(Northeastern Reporter, vol. 42, p. 386), and its validity was sustained
by the supreme court of the State on June 15,1895, the opinion of the
court being delivered by Chief Justice Craig.
A petition for rehearing was filed which emphasized the previous
contention that the act in question is a partial and special statute,
working deprivation of property without due process of law, and
therefore unconstitutional, and reliance was placed on decisions in a
number of cases by the Illinois supreme court adverse to the constitu­
tionality of certain legislative enactments as sustaining the position
taken. On the rehearing, October 28, 1895, the court again sustained
the validity of the law, Judge Magruder dissenting, and in their opin­
ion said:
Those cases do not, however, control the present case, or decide the
question here involved. Without discussing separately the facts of the
cases relied upon, it may be said generally, that in each of those cases
a principal and controlling question was the right of miners of coal (no
less than their employers) to make contracts regulating the time and
manner of the payment of wages and the method of computing such
wages, and in each case cited a law restricting in some manner this
important right of contract was held invalid.
The statute here in question interferes with no one’s right to contract.
It embraces a well defined class of cases and persons, not singled out,
as is contended, wholly without reason and arbitrarily; but upon grounds
which may, wre think, properly serve as a basis for valid legislative
action. Those to whom the wages of labor are due, and who, after
demand in writing of a sum no greater than that subsequently recov­
ered, are compelled to establish, and do establish, their rights as
demanded by judgment of court, are within the provisions of the act;
and we can not say that this classification is so arbitrary and unreason­
able, and the law so partial and unequal, as to be beyond legislative
in

S u it s

for

W




a g e s .—

425

426

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

discretion and power. Indeed, if this law were to be held unconstitu­
tional for the reasons assigned, then many other acts long in force in
this State, hitherto deemed to be salutary, and against which no con­
stitutional objection has been heard, would certainly fall with it. Why,
for instance, should the seller of materials for a building have by law
a lien for their price, not only upon the specific things sold, but upon
the whole structure, with the land it stands on, while the seller of a
horse, a piano, or a cornsheller is denied any lien even on the specific
thing sold? Why should he whose labor constructs a house be secured
by a lien on his product, while he who raises a crop must look only to
the personal responsibility of his hirer? Surely, it could be said the
lien law makes classes of beneficiaries quite as arbitrary in character
as that marked out to receive benefit by the act under discussion.
Again, why should the wages of a defendant, who is head of a
family, to an amount not exceeding $50, be exempt from garnishment
(Hurds St., p. 783, sec. 14), while sums due other defendants are pro­
tected by no such exemption? And why, again, it might be asked,
should heads of families earning wages be made the subject of advan­
tageous provisions not applied to all other wage earners if not to all
other persons? The general exemption law also makes heads of fami­
lies a distinct class, who may claim as exempt $300 worth more prop­
erty than others are allowed, while a further section (id., p. 727, sec. 4)
declares that where a judgment is for the wages of a laborer or serv­
ant, and noted by the court as such, no personal property whatever
shall be free from levy, whatever the estate or condition of the debtor.
An analogous case for this purpose is found in the provisions of the
general assignment law that u all claims for the wages of any laborer
or servant which have been earned within three months next preceding
the making o f the assignment,” etc., 66be preferred and first paid to the
exclusion of all other demands” (id., p. 166, sec. 6). It is difficult to see
how any of these statutes, and many similar ones which might be
named, could be sustained if the strict rule of constitutional validity,
so strenuously urged in this case, were applied to them.
In dissenting from the foregoing opinion Judge Magruder cited the
case of Ooal Co. v. Rosser (41 N. E., 263), in which the supreme court of
Ohio had occasion to consider and condemn a statute similar to the one
sustained by his colleagues. He said that the opinion in that case
expressed what seemed to him to be the correct view of the subject,
and made the following quotation therefrom as sufficiently indicating
the reasons for his dissent:
Upon what principle can a rule of law rest which permits one party,
or class of people, to invoke the action of our tribunals of justice at
will, while the other party, or another class of citizens, does so at the
peril of being mulct in an attorney’s fee, if an honest but unsuccessful
defense should be interposed? A statute that imposes this restriction
upon one citizen, or class of citizens, only denies to him or them the equal
protection of the law. It is true that no provision of the constitution
of 1851 declares in direct and express terms that this may not be done;
but nevertheless it violates the fundamental principles upon which our
Government rests, as they are enunciated and declared by that instru­
ment in the bill of rights. The first section of the constitution declares
that the right to acquire, possess, and protect property is inalienable,
and the next section declares, among other things, that u government is
instituted for the equal protection and benefit” of every person, while




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

427

section 16 of article 1 provides that “ all courts shall be open, and every
person, for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation,
shall have remedy by due course of law, and justice shall be administered
without denial or delay.” The right to protect property is declared, as
well as that justice shall not be denied, and everyone is entitled to equal
protection. Judicial tribunals are provided for the equal protection of
every suitor. The right to retain property already in possession is as
sacred as the right to recover it when dispossessed. The right to defend
against an action to recover money is as necessary as the right to defend
one brought to recover specific real or personal property. An adverse
result in either case deprives the defeated party of property.
If the general assembly has power to enact the statute in question,
it could also enact one providing that lawyers, doctors, grocers, or any
other class of citizens might make out their accounts, demand in writing
their payment within a short time, which, if not complied with, would
entitle the plaintiff to an attorney fee in addition to his claim, if he
recovered the amount demanded. We do not think the general assem­
bly has power to discriminate between persons or classes respecting
the right to invoke the arbitrament of the courts in the adjustment of
their respective rights. The legislative power to compel an unsuccess­
ful party to an action—generally the defendant—to pay an attorney fee
to his opponent has received the attention of a number of courts of last
resort as well as laws which impose as a penalty double damages or
some similar penalty for some wrongful or negligent act injurious to
another. Where the penalty has been imposed for some tortious or
negligent act, the statute has generally, though not always, been sus­
tained ; but, on the contrary, where no wrongful or negligent conduct was
imputed to the defeated party, any attempt to charge him with a pen­
alty has not prevailed. [At this point in the decision a number of cases
are cited as sustaining the foregoing propositions.] Various phases
of this subject have received attention in the foregoing cases, as well as
in some others to which we do not deem it necessary to refer. The gen­
eral tendency of these authorities is toward the result which we have
reached; but whether they do or do not support our conclusions, we are
satisfied that the fundamental principles of government declared by
our bill of rights clearly and unequivocally prohibit legislation of the
character of that involved in this case.

Corporations— Liability of Stockholders for W ages .—

Section 4161 c 8 of volume 3, Howell’s Annotated Statutes of Michigan,
provides that stockholders of manufacturing corporations “ shall be
individually liable for all labor performed for such corporations, which
said liability may be enforced against any stockholder by action
founded on this statute, at any time after an execution shall be
returned unsatisfied in whole or in part against the corporation,” etc.
Under this statute suit was brought before a justice of the peace by
Kalph Kamp against Peter Wintermute, a stockholder in the Cheesman and Kelly Manufacturing Company, to recover for personal work
and labor performed by Kamp for the company before Wintermute
became a stockholder therein. The justice gave judgment for Kamp,
and the cause was removed to the circuit court of Muskegon County by
3687—Ko. 4----- 7



428

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

writ of certiorari and there the judgment of the justice was reversed.
The case was then carried to the supreme court of Michigan, which
affirmed the judgment of the circuit court, holding that the statute in
question does not make a stockholder liable for labor performed before
he became a stockholder.
The opinion of the supreme court was delivered by Judge Long, and
is published in volume 65 of the Northwestern Reporter, page 570. In
the course of the opinion Judge Long said:
It is conceded in this court that the defendant was not a stockholder
in the corporation at the time the labor was performed; but, as shown
on the trial before the justice, he was a stockholder at the time suit
was commenced. The claim is that those who are stockholders in a
corporation at the time of the commencement of an action against the
corporation upon the labor claims are liable upon such demands,
although not stockholders at the time corporate liability accrued; that
such stockholders impliedly assume all the obligations which rested
upon former holders as members of the company, and are liable to the
same extent as the former holders.
Whether statutory liability attaches to a stockholder in respect of
debts contracted before he became a member of the corporation, is a
question turning upon the words of the statute. While the persons
who were stockholders at the time the debt was contracted may be held
liable, we think the liability is confined to such stockholders, and not to
those who thereafter purchase. The stockholders mentioned in this
section of the statute must be construed to mean those who were such
at the time the liability attaches to the corporation. The statutes of
many of the States prescribe when such liability is to attach. Our
statute fixes no such time by any express words, but, by necessary impli­
cation, was not intended to apply to one who became a purchaser after
liability was incurred.
The general doctrine seems to be that a stockholder does not avoid a
statutory liability to creditors who were such at the time he transfers
his stock; and there is good reason for holding the rule being thus
settled that the transferee does not take the stock subject to such
statutory liability.

E mployers 7 L iability —Railroad Companies.— In the case of
Caron v. Boston and Albany Railroad Company, the superior court
of Hampden County, Mass., gave judgment for damages against the
railroad company in favor of Marie Caron for the death of her husband,
an employee of said company, resulting from injuries received in a col­
lision caused by the alleged negligence of some person who had charge
or control of a certain train in shifting it over upon the track where
Caron was at work.
The railroad company carried the case, on exceptions, to the supreme
judicial court of Massachusetts, and the exceptions were sustained by
that tribunal on November 26,1895. The opinion of the court (reported
in vol. 42 of the Northeastern Reporter, p. 112) was delivered by Judge
Morton.




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

429

The action arose under chapter 270 of the acts of 1887 of Massachu­
setts, section 1 , which provides as follows: “ Where, after the passage
of this act, personal injury is caused to an employee, who is himself in
the exercise of due care and diligence at the time, (1) by reason of any
defect in the condition of the ways, works, or machinery connected with
or used in the business of the employer, which arose from or had not
been discovered or remedied owing to the negligence of the employer
or of any person in the service of the employer and intrusted by him
with the duty of seeing that the ways, works, or machinery were in
proper condition, or * * * (3) by reason of the negligence of any
person in the service of the employer who has the charge or control of
any signal, switch, locomotive, engine, or train upon a railroad, the
employee, or in case the injury results in death, the legal representative
of such employee, shall have the same right of compensation and reme­
dies against the employer as if the employee had not been an employee
of nor in the service of the employer, nor engaged in its work.”
In the course of the opinion sustaining the exceptions of the railroad
company, Judge Morton said:
The defendant contends that the plaintiff’s intestate was not in the
exercise of due care. There was nothing to show that he had any
warning or knowledge that the cars which caused the collision were
coming down the track, or that he could see them* and, for aught that
appears, he was engaged in the discharge of his duty when injured.
Due care may be inferred from the absence of negligence as well as
from positive acts of diligence. We think that there was evidence
which justified the jury in finding that he was in the exercise of due
care.
The defendant contends further that the plaintiff’s intestate assumed
the risk. But we do not think it fairly can be held that he assumed
the risk of accident from cars which were sent in, as there was evidence
tending to show that the colliding cars were moving at the rate of ten
or twelve miles an hour, and with such force as to throw off the track
one car of the train which Collins [the conductor] and his men were
making up, and to break the draw bars of others. Such a manner of
doing the business would be unreasonable, and not within any risk
which the plaintiff’s intestate assumed.
The defendant also contends that the cars which were switched onto
the track where Caron was working did not constitute a train at the
time of the accident. It is not easy to define what, under all circum­
stances, would constitute a train, within the meaning of the statute.
A locomotive, with one or more cars attached to it, with or without
passengers or freight, in motion upon a railroad from one point to
another by means of power furnished by the locomotive, would
undoubtedly constitute a train. So it would if the steam was shut off
from the locomotive and the train was moving by its own momentum.
The word “ train” as used in the railroad act (Pub. St., c. 112) generally
signifies cars in motion. Usually the power would be furnished by a
locomotive. But whether a number of cars coupled together and in
motion, and forming one connected whole, do or do not constitute a
train, does not depend, we think, upon whether a locomotive engine is
attached to them at the time, and they are moved by the power thus
supplied. The liability to accident for which St, 1887, c. 270, was




430

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

designed to furnish a remedy would be the same in kind, though perhaps
not so great in degree, whether the motive power was furnished by a
locomotive attached to the cars or in some other manner. And it seems
to us that a number of cars, coupled together as these were, forming
one connected whole and moving from one point to another upon a
railroad, in the ordinary course of its traffic, under an impetus imparted
to them by a locomotive, which, shortly before the accident, had been
detached, constitute a train within the meaning of the statute.
The next and more difficult question is whether either of the two
brakemen or Mozier, the foreman of the switching gang, was in “ the
charge or control” of the train when the accident occurred. The words
“ the charge or control” do not seem to have received a final construc­
tion anywhere. The implication of our own decisions, so far as they
can be said to have given rise to one, is that they are to be regarded,
not, perhaps, as synonymous, but as explanatory of each other, and as
used together for the purpose of describing more fully one and the same
thing 5 and we think that this is the better construction. If “ control”
is one thing and “ charge” is another, then, inasmuch as to someextept
every brakeman upon a train would have “ control” of it, every
employee injured by an accident resulting from the carelessness of a
brakeman would have a right of action against the corporation which
employed him, and the defense of common employment as to brakemen
would be done away with, even though the brakeman might be acting
under an immediate superior. The statute is to be fairly construed,
and, while it removes the defense of common employment in some cases,
it does not extinguish it altogether; and we do not think that the legis­
lature intended that it should be abolished in all cases where injuries
were sustained by the carelessness of a brakeman. We think, there­
fore, that by the words, “ any person #
# who has the charge
or control,” is meant a person who, for the time being at least, has imme­
diate authority to direct the movements and management of the train
as a whole and of the men engaged upon it. It is not necessary that the
person in charge or control should be actually upon the train itself. On
the other hand, the mere fact that a laborer or brakeman is put in such
a position that for the moment he physically controls and directs its
movements under the eye of his superior does not constitute him a per­
son in “ the charge or control” of the train, though there may be cir­
cumstances under which he would have such charge or control. It is
possible that more than one person may have “ the charge or control”
of a train at the same time. The case of the engineer is expressly pro­
vided for, and it is not likely that any negligence of his which would
affect the train would not be negligence in the management of the loco­
motive engine of which at the time he had “ the charge or control.”
Applying these principles to the case before us, we do not think that
either O’Brien or Desloury had “ the charge or control” of the train as
it went onto the side track, and after the engine and caboose had been
detached, but that they were fellow-servants of the plaintiff’s intestate.
They certainly had not before that, and after it they were still acting,
as before, under the supervision and direction of Stickles, the con­
ductor, who was on the ground or in the caboose, and had at no time
given up the direction or control. The duty of each was to take care of
the brakes on the cars at his own end of the train, and to stop it sea­
sonably, in conjunction with the other, when it had cleared the No. 6
switch. They did not have the charge, and, except in a very limited
sense, and one, as we think, not meant, they did not have the control.
We doubt, also, whether, quoad this train, Mozier, the foreman of the




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

431

switching gang, could be said to have had “ the charge or control.” All
that he did was to direct on which track it should be put. “ The charge
or control” of the train and of the men on it remained in the hands of
Stickles, and it was his duty to see that it was switched onto the desig­
nated track. There is nothing to show that after he had given the
direction Mozier had anything further to do with the tram. But, even
if he had “ the charge or control,” we see no evidence of negligence on
his part.
The second count was for a defect in the ways, works, and machinery,
which, it was alleged, “ consisted in an improper and inefficient method
of allowing cars to be switched upon the track where said Oaron was at
work at the time while said track was in use by another train, and in
allowing said cars to be so switched without any lights or other signals
or warnings to persons while on said track.” We are of opinion that,
even if the method adopted was a dangerous one, the plaintiff’s intes­
tate must be held to have taken the risk of it. There is nothing to
show that it had not been customary to switch cars onto tracks already
occupied, without warnings or signals save such as would naturally be
given to each other by those engaged in the work, during the whole
time that the plaintiff’s intestate had been working in the yard, which,
as his widow testified, was two years and four months. It does not
appear that any change had been made in the mode of doing the busi­
ness so as to make it more dangerous after he entered the defendant’s
service. The law is well settled that under such circumstances the
servant assumes the risk of such dangers as ordinarily are connected
with the service in which he is engaged. He enters the business as it
is, and can not be heard to complain that it might have been made
safer, or that it was conducted in a hazardous manner.

E mployers ’ L iability —Railroad Companies.—Section 2701 of
the General Statutes of 1894 of Minnesota, known as the “ fellow
servant act,” provides that “ every railroad corporation owning or
operating a railroad in this State shall be liable for all damage sus­
tained by an agent or servant thereof by reason of the negligence of
any other agent or servant thereof, without contributory negligence
on his part, when sustained within this State, and no contract, rule,
or regulation between such corporation and any agent or servant shall
impair or diminish such liability.”
The supreme court of Minnesota decided on December 9, 1895, in
the case of Karl Mikkelson v. William H. Truesdale, receiver of the
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway Company (vol. 65, Northwestern
Reporter, p. 260), that Mikkelson, who was a wiper in the defendant’s
roundhouse and was injured while assisting in coaling an engine by its
being negligently moved, as he claimed, by a coemployee, was injured
by reason of exposure to the hazards peculiar to the operation of rail­
roads ; also, that a receiver operating a railroad under the appointment
and direction of a court of equity is within the provisions of the
“ fellow servant act,” and is liable to an employee who is injured by
the negligence of a coemployee.



432

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

In deciding as to the liability of the receiver under the statute,
against which the defendant contended, Chief Justice Start, who deliv­
ered the opinion of the court, said:
It is true that the word “ receiver” is not used in this statute, and
that its language is, “ every railroad corporation owning or operating a
railroad; ” but the statute is a police regulation intended to protect life,
person, and property, by securing a more careful selection of servants
and a more rigid enforcement of their duties by railroad companies, by
making them pecuniarily responsible to those of their servants who are
injured by the negligence of incompetent or careless fellow-servants.
It is remedial in its nature, and must be construed, if not liberally,
certainly in accordance with its obvious purpose and spirit. It would
be a most unreasonable construction of the statute, if we were to adopt
the one claimed for it by the defendant. We are aware that able courts
have adopted such a construction of similar statutes, but we are of the
opinion that they have taken a narrow view of the statute, and we
must decline to follow their conclusions.
If this police regulation does not apply to receivers of railroad cor­
porations, it is difficult to see why such receivers are not absolved from
a compliance with each and all of the police regulations made applica­
ble by statute to railroad corporations. Can it be true that a railroad
corporation whose road is operated for it by a general manager is, and
one whose road is managed for it by a receiver is not, subject to the
police regulations of the State? or that the employees of the one have,
and those of the other have not, a remedy, when injured by the negli­
gence of a fellow-servant? or that the employees of a corporation whose
road is operated by a general manager to-day have such remedy, but
if injured to-morrow they will have it not, because a receiver has taken
the place of the manager? It would seem that an affirmative answer
must be given to these questions, if we held that this statute has no
application to receivers of railway corporations. Manifestly, such is
not the fair and reasonable construction to be given to the statute. It
is only in a technical sense that a receiver manages a railroad for the
court appointing him. He operates it subject to the direction of the
court, not for its benefit, but for the owners of the road, the corporation
and its creditors. In doing so he necessarily exercises the franchises,
rights, and powers of the corporation, and discharges its functions as
a common carrier, and appropriates the income received from the opera­
tion of the road for the benefit of the corporation; and it logically fol­
lows that in so operating the road the receiver stands, in respect to
duty and liability, just where the corporation would if it was operating
the road. A distinction in this respect has been made between the
common-law duties and liabilities of the corporation and those imposed
on it by statute, but there can be no distinction in principle, for wherein
is the duty and liability more imperative or sacred in the one case than
in the other? A receiver can not, while exercising the franchises and
powers of a corporation, claim immunity from the police regulations
and liabilities which have been imposed upon the corporation by the
State.
These general considerations lead to the conclusion that the provi­
sions of the fellow-servant statute, here in question, apply to a receiver
operating a railroad under the appointment and direction of the court.




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

433

E mployers 7 L iability —Kailroad Companies.—In the State of
Montana the liability of railroad companies for injuries of employees
is defined by section 697, page 817, of the Montana Compiled Statutes
of 1887, which provides: “ That in every case the liability of the cor­
poration to a servant or employee acting under the orders of his supe­
rior shall be the same in case of injury sustained by default or wrongful
act of his superior, or to an employee not appointed or controlled by
him, as if such servant or employee were a passenger.77 The same pro­
vision is found in the Montana Codes and Statutes, Sanders Edition,
1895, Civil Code, section 905.
Under the statute above quoted the supreme court of Montana
decided, on November 25, 1895, in the case of Crisswell v. Montana
Central Eailway Company (Pacific Beporter, vol. 42, p. 707), that both
the conductor and engineer of a train are the superiors of a brakeman
oh the same train, and that the railroad company is liable for injuries
sustained by such brakeman in a collision caused by the negligence of
the conductor in running his train into the depot yard at night with­
out a sufficient headlight, or without sending a flagman to see if the
tracks were clear, as required by the rules of the company.
The case was brought before the supreme court on appeal by the
railway company from the judgment of the district court of Cascade
County in favor of the plaintiff, Crisswell, who had been injured while
in the employ of the company as a brakeman, under the circumstances
outlined above.
It was contended by the defendant’s counsel that the railway corpora­
tion, under the common law, had performed its whole duty to the
plaintiff as its employee when it had used ordinary and reasonable care
in providing (1) safe machinery, (2) furnishing a safe place to work, and
(3) competent fellow-servants to prosecute the common employment;
and that the statute in question does not increase or change the defend­
ant’s liability at common law; that it does not change the common law
in relation to fellow-servants; that it does not establish the superiorservant doctrine and enlarge the common-law liability of the defendant
in any respect, and was not so intended by the legislature.
Chief Justice Pemberton, in delivering the opinion of the supreme
court, quoted at considerable length from the opinion of the United
States circuit court for the northern district of Iowa, in the case of
Bagsdale v, Bailroad Co. (42 Fed., 383), and from the opinion of the
United States circuit court of appeals, eighth circuit, in the case of
Bailroad Company v. Mase (63 Fed., 114), in both of which cases the
interpretation of the statute in question was directly involved. In
the course of the opinion in the Bagsdale case the court said, “ Under
this section the corporation is made liable to any one of its employees
who, without negligence on his part, is injured by the default or wrong­
ful act of a superior, even though the latter has no control over the
former;77 and in the Mase case, “ It goes without saying that the pur­




434

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

pose of this statute was to extend the liability of railroad companies to
their servants for the negligence of servants of a higher g r a d e a l s o
“ The effect of the statute is to give a cause of action against the rail
road company to every servant who is himself without fault, for the
default or wrongful act of any superior servant, whether or not the
latter appointed or exercised any control over the former before or at
the time of the infliction of the injury.”
After quoting from the cases above referred to Chief Justice Pem­
berton said:
W e think from the interpretation given to the statute in question by
the above authorities that it can not be doubted that the common-law
rule contended for by the defendant was modified and changed thereby,
and that such was the intention of that legislation. And it is no less
plain that this statute establishes the principle that there is a difference
in the grade of the employees engaged in a common employment, and
gives a right of action to a servant, injured through the negligence of
a superior employee or servant, against a master, when such injured
servant is without faul t or negligence on his part. In view of the extent
to which the common-law rule has been carried, the enactment of such
legislation is not surprising, nor are we prepared to reprobate the wis­
dom of the policy of establishing a legislative rule that relaxes the
rigor of the common law in such cases.
E mployers ’ L iability — Railroad Companies.—In the case of
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company v. Whittaker (vol. 33,
Southwestern Reporter, p. 716) the court of civil appeals of Texas, on
November 23, 1895, reversed the judgment of the district court of
Grayson County, by which Whittaker, a boiler washer in the company’s
employ, had been awarded $1,000 damages for injuries sustained by
him through the negligence of a hostler employed by the company.
The court of civil appeals held, in effect, that under section 2 of
chapter 24 of the General Laws of 1891 of Texas, relating to fellowservants, the provisions of which were reenacted in section 2 of chapter
91 of the General Laws of 1893, a hostler, whose duty it is to bring the
engines into the roundhouse and take them out when necessary, and
a boiler washer, whose duty it is to clean the boilers of the engine so
as to fit them for further service, both being under the orders of the
roundhouse foreman and without authority over each other, are, as a
matter of law, fellow-servants, and, hence, that one of them was not
entitled to recover damages from their common employer, the railroad
company, for injuries sustained through the negligence of the other.
Judge Finley, in delivering the opinion of the court of civil appeals,
said:
The evidence, so far as it touches the relation of plaintiff and the
hostler who was in charge of the engine and whose negligence, it is
alleged, caused the injury, to the railway company and to each other,
and as to the material circumstances under which the injury occurred,
is entirely without conflict.




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

435

Plaintiff was employed at the roundhouse as a boiler washer, and
his duty was to wash out the boilers of engines brought in there to be
overhauled between their trips upon the road. The hostler was
employed at the roundhouse, and his duty was to bring the engines into
the roundhouse, and take them out again when they were sent out for
use on the road. Both were employed by, and worked under the super­
vision of, the foreman of the roundhouse. Neither of them had any
control, authority, direction, or superintendence over the other in his
work. They were employed, though in different capacities, about the
same work—that is, the care of the engines at the roundhouse when
not in use u j i o n the road.
Section 2 of our fellow-servant act reads as follows: “ That all per­
sons who are engaged in the common service of such railway corpora­
tions and who while so engaged are working together at the same
time and place to a common purpose, of same grade, neither of such
persons being intrusted by such corporations with any superinteudence
or control over their fellow-employees, are fellow-servants with each
other; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed
as to make employees of such corporation, in the service of such cor­
poration, fellow-servants with other emiffoyees of such corporation,
engaged in any other department or service of such corporation.
Employees who do not come within the provisions of this section shall
not be considered fellow-servants.”
At common law employees who serve the same master, labor under
the same control and to a common purpose, and derive their authority
and receive their pay from the same general source, are fellow-servants,
although they be of different grades or labor in different and distinct
departments of service. Our statute now fixes the relation of fellowservant, as to railway employees, only between those who serve the
same master, are of the same grade, are working together at the same
time and place to a common purpose, in the same department, and
neither being intrusted with superintendence or control over his fellowemployees. If they are of different grades, or different departments of
service, or one is intrusted with the power to superintend or control
his fellow-employees, then, under the statute, the relation of fellowservant does not exist.
In the case before ns for determination, unquestionably, the plaintiff
and the hostler were serving the same master, at the same time and
place, to a common purpose, were of the same grade, and neither had
superintendence or control over fellow-employees. Were they in the
same department or service % They were both employed by the foreman
of the roundhouse, they were under the same special control, their duties
called them to the same place of service at the same time, and their
labors alike related to engines while they were not in actual service
upon the road. The hostler brought the engines into the roundhouse
and carried them out when necessary. The plaintiff cleaned out the
boilers to make the same ready for further service. They were clearly
in the same department. It is not necessary that they should be doing
exactly the same kind of work, and getting the same compensation
therefor, to be servants of the same grade or to be employees in the
same department.
The court charged the substance of the statute, and left the jury to
apply the evidence, and determine whether the plaintiff and the hostler
were fellow-servants. Where the evidence clearly and without conflict
shows the relation of the employees to be that of fellow-servants, the
court should instruct the jury, as a matter of law, that they are such.




436

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

E mployers ’ Lia b il it y — Railroad Companies.—The supreme
court of Wisconsin decided, on November 26, 1895, in the case of
Smith v. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, that,
under chapter 220 of the laws of 1893 of Wisconsin, a railway com­
pany is not liable for injuries to one of its car repairers caused by a
switchman negligently running a train into the stationary car in which
the repairer was at work.
The statute referred to provides that “ Every railway company oper­
ating any railroad or railway, the line of which shall be in whole or in
part within this State, shall be liable for all damages sustained within
this State by any employee of such company, without contributory
negligence on his part, # * * while any such employee is so
engaged in operating, running, riding upon or switching, passenger
or freight or other trains, engines or cars, and while engaged in the
performance of his duties as such employee, and which such injury
shall have been caused by the carelessness or negligence of any other
employee, officer or agent of such company in the discharge of, or for
failure to discharge his duties as such.”
The opinion of the supreme court in this case, published in volume
65 of the Northwestern Reporter, page 183, was delivered by Judge
Marshall, who in the course of it said:
It has been too long and too well settled that persons working for
the same employer, bearing such relations to each other and to the
business they are jointly engaged in for such employer as a switchman
and a car repairer, are fellow-servants, and that the master is not liable
for an injury to one through the negligence of the other, unless made so
by statute, to need any discussion of the subject here.
Therefore, if there be any liability of defendant to plaintiff, it is
under chapter 220, laws of 1893. The words [in the statute referred
to] “ while engaged in the performance of his duties as such employee,”
refer to the words, “ while operating, running, riding upon or switch­
ing, passenger or freight or other trains, engines or cars.” This, we
think, is very clear. It is a familiar principle that statutes in deroga­
tion of the common law should be strictly construed, and not given any
effect beyond the plain legislative intent; but whether the statute under
consideration is tested by that rule, or by the more liberal one applica­
ble to purely remedial laws, the result must be the same, for the legisla­
tive intent must govern, and that is to be determined “ by considering
the entire statute, looking at every part, having regard to the legis­
lative idea or purpose of the whole instrument.” The legislative idea
of that part of the law under consideration plainly is to give a right of
action to the class of employees engaged in operating and moving
trains, engines, and cars, while actually so engaged; and the words
used to express such idea are too plain to leave any room for a resort
to the rules for judicial construction to determine their meaning.
Plaintiff was not an employee engaged in the branch of railway ser­
vice, when injured, entitled to the benefits of the statutory liability.




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

437

DECISIONS UNDER COMMON LAW.
B lacklisting .—In the United States circuit court, southern dis­
trict of Florida, on January 21, 189G, in the case of W. E. Willett v.
Jacksonville, St. Johns and fndian River Railroad Company, a jury
awarded Willett the sum of $1,700 as damages against the railroad
company for blacklisting him, which amount, together with the costs in
the case, the company paid.
From information furnished the Department of Labor by the clerk
of the court in which the case was tried, the facts upon which the
suit was based appear to have been as follows: Willett, while employed
as a conductor by the defendant company, sought employment on another
railroad, the Savannah, Florida and Western (formerly the South
Florida). He was notified that employment would be given him, and
directed to report for duty immediately, and passes were sent him to
enable him to go over the road of the Savannah, Florida and Western
Railroad Company and learn the route before entering regularly upon
the duties of his new position. He at once telegraphed to the proper
official of the Jacksonville, St. Johns and Indian River Railroad Com­
pany, asking to be relieved from duty at a certain station, but was
requested by the company to remain in its employ and take out another
train. He finished the run he was then making and made the return
run, telegraphing the official that he would leave the employ of the
company upon arrival at its terminus, which he did, and proceeded to
go over the line of the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad Com­
pany to learn the route.
Before he had finished the preliminary trip he received a telegram
from the officers of the last-named company directing him to u come
back.” He complied with this order, and upon returning was informed
that he could not be employed. He subsequently ascertained the rea­
son for this refusal to employ him to have been that the superintendent
of the company whose service he had left, had written a letter to the
superintendent of the company whose service he was about to enter,
cautioning him against Willett, who, the letter stated, had left their
employ with certain charges pending against him.
The principal defense of the railroad company was that the letter
was a personal one, and not written officially, but this defense was of
no avail, and, as before stated, Mr. Willett successfully prosecuted his
suit against the company whose superintendent had prevented his
employment by another company.
So far as the Department of Labor is advised, this is the first case of
the kind ever tried in the United States in which an award of damages
has been made and paid for blacklisting.




438

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

E mployers ’ Lia b il it y .—The supreme judicial court of Massachu­
setts decided on November 29, 1895, in the case of O’Connor v. Rich,
that a master, having furnished suitable material, is not responsible for
injuries to a servant resulting from the negligence of another servant
in putting a defective plank into a scaffold, though the scaffold was
erected and the defective plank placed therein before the injured
servant entered the master’s service.
The facts in the case are stated in the opinion of the court which was
delivered by Judge Knowlton. Said decision is published in volume
42 of the Northeastern Eeporter, page 111, and is as follows:
The plaintiff fell and was injured by reason of the breaking of a plank
in a temporary staging on which he was working in the defendant’s
building. It is not disputed that the staging was of a kind the con­
struction of which is ordinarily left to the servants of the builder, and
that the duty of the master concerning it was performed if he furnished
a sufficient supply of suitable materials from which to construct it. In
this case there was uncontradicted evidence that there were plenty of
planks furnished by the defendant from which to build the staging, and
the negligence, if there Was any, was on the part of the workmen who put
the planks in place, in taking one which was not adapted to such a
use. Upon these facts, if the plaintiff had been in the defendant’s
service at the time when the staging was built, it would be very clear
that he could not maintain his claim.
But it appears that, although he had previously worked for a consid­
erable time upon the building, he was away working for another person
four days before the day of the accident, and this staging was erected
a day or two before his last engagement in the defendant’s service
began. Under these circumstances, the question is whether the defend­
ant is liable to him for the previous negligence of a servant in doing
work which may properly be intrusted to servants. We are of opinion
that an employer, under such circumstances, owes one who is about to
enter his service no duty to inspect all the work which has been done
by his servants previously, and which ordinarily may be intrusted to
them, without liability to their fellow-servants for their negligence. If
he owes no such duty, the risk of accident from previous negligence of
servants in their own field is one of the ordinary risks of the business
which the employee assumes by virtue of his contract on entering the
service.

E mployers ’ Liability — R ailroad C ompanies. — The supreme
court of appeals of West Virginia, by decision of November 29,1895,
reversed the judgment of the circuit court of Braxton County in the
case of Skidmore v. West Virginia and Pittsburg Railroad Company,
by which $ 6,000 had been awarded Skidmore as damages for injuries
sustained by him while in the performance of his duty as a section hand
in the employ of the railroad company.
The opinion of the supreme court of appeals was delivered by Judge
English and is published in volume 23 of the Southeastern Reporter,
page 713. The syllabus of said opinion, prepared by the court, which




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

439

shows the circumstances of the case and the legal grounds upon which
the judgment of the circuit court was reversed, is as follows:
1. Where a section hand in the employ of a railroad company, in com­
pany with other section hands, is engaged in clearing away a wreck
under the supervision of a section boss and the supervisor of the road,
and it is thought necessary to move a tender which lies on its side near
the main track farther from said track, and said tender inclines a little
toward the main track, but nothing in its appearance indicates that
the bottom of said tender had been broken loose from the body, and
neither the section boss nor supervisor could by ordinary diligence dis­
cover any such fracture, or any separation from the main body, and
while the section hands are engaged in moving such tender the bottom
falls out and injures said section hand, he is not entitled to recover from
said railroad company damages for the injury so received.
2. Where a foreman and his assistants have equal knowledge of the
danger accompanying an act about to be done, even if the foreman
requests its performance, and injury ensues to the assistant, the
employer can not be made liable. Notwithstanding the request, the
assistant can comply or not, as he chooses, and if he does comply, he
takes his chances of the peril surrounding the situation.
3. It is only when the servant is ignorant of the impending danger,
and the employer is not, and the employer fails to warn the servant of
such danger, that the master’s liability attaches.
4. When one enters upon a service he assumes to understand it and
takes all the ordinary risks that are incident to the employment; and
where the employment presents special features of danger, such as are
plain and obvious, he also assumes the risk of those.
5. Where the danger consists in some latent defect, which is not
apparent by the use of ordinary diligence on the part of the master,
and a servant in performing his work is thereby injured, when he had
the same chances of observation as the master, no liability attaches to
the master.

Strikes , Conspiracy , Labor Combinations not U nlaw ful .—

In the circuit court of Greene County, Ind., Benjamin F. Watson recov­
ered damages in an action against Thomas Olemitt and others for
having been driven from his employment as workman in a coal mine by
an alleged wrongful conspiracy among other workmen in the mine, who
agreed with each other not to work with him and to quit work unless
he was discharged, pursuant to which they did quit work upon their
employer’s refusing to discharge Watson, by reason whereof the busi­
ness was suspended and he was thrown out of work.
The defendants appealed to the appellate court of Indiana, which
tribunal reversed the decision of the circuit court and held that such
a combination among workmen is not actionable in the absence of mal­
ice, intimidation, or violence, or evidence that they were bound to con­
tinue work, or that the employer was obliged to retain the plaintiff in
his service.
The opinion of the appellate court, delivered by Chief Justice Gavin




440

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

December 10,1895, is published in full in volume 42 of the Northeastern
Reporter, page 367. In the course of the opinion it is said:
While it is true that, under all civilized forms of government, every
man surrenders for the general good a certain amount of that absolute
freedom of action which may adhere to the individual in an independ­
ent or natural state, yet, under our institutions, it is a cardinal princi­
ple that each man retains the greatest freedom of action compatible
with the general welfare. The right to control his own labor, and to
bestow or withhold it where he will, belongs to every man. Even
though he be under contract to render services, the courts will not
interfere to compel him to specifically perform them. (Arthur v. Oakes,
11 C. 0. A., 209; 63 Fed., 310.)
So far as appears by these instructions [of the circuit court to the
jury] none of the appellants were under any continuing contract to
labor for their employer. Each one could have quit without incurring
any civil liability to him. What each one could rightfully do certainly
all could do if they so desired, especially when their concerted action
was taken peaceably, without any threats, violence, or attempts at
intimidation. There is no law to compel one man or any body of men
to work for or with another who is personally obnoxious to them. If
they can not be by law compelled to work, I am wholly unable to see
how they can incur any personal liability by simply ceasing to do that
which they have not agreed to do, and for the performance of which
they are under no obligation whatever.
Under our law every workman assumes many risks arising from the
incompetency or negligence of his fellow-workmen. It would be an
anomalous doctrine to hold that after his fellows have concluded that he
was not a safe or even a desirable companion they must continue to work
with him under the penalty of paying damages if by their refusal to
do so the works are for a time stopped and he thrown out of employ­
ment. We can not believe it to be in accordance with the spirit of our
institutions or the law of the land to say that a body of workmen must
respond in damages because they, without malice or any evil motive,
peaceably and quietly quit work which they are not required to con­
tinue rather than remain at work with one who is for any reason unsat­
isfactory to them. To so hold would be subversive of their natural
and legal rights, and tend to place them in a condition of involuntary
servitude.

Strikes , I ntimidation , etc .—R ight of Court to I nterfere
I njunction .— The supreme court of Missouri, on November 26,

by

1895, affirmed the judgment of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis
in the case of Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company v. Saxey et al., and
adopted as its own the opinion delivered in said case by Hon. L. B.
Yalliant, one of the judges of the circuit court, by which A. J. Saxey
and others were prevented by injunction from attempting by intimida­
tion, threats of personal violence, and other unlawful means to force
the employees of the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company to quit work and
join in a strike.
The opinion in this case is published in volume 32 of the Southwest­
ern Reporter, page 1106, and sufficient portions of it are here repro­




DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

441

duced to give a clear under standing of the facts in the case and the
reasoning upon which the judgment of the court was based:
The amended petition states in substance that the plaintiff conducts
a large shoe manufactory in this city, and has in its employ some eight
or nine hundred persons, all of whom are earning their living in plain­
tiff’s employment, and are desirous of so continuing; that the defend­
ants, except two of them, were lately in plaintiff’s employ, but have gone
out of the same, on a strike, and are now, with the other two defendants,
engaged in an attempt to force the other employees of plaintiff to quit
their work and join in the strike, and that to accomplish this purpose
they are intimidating them with threats of personal violence; that
among the plaintiff’s employees who are thus threatened are about three
hundred women and girls and two or three hundred other young per­
sons; that the effect of all this on the plaintiff’s business, if the defend­
ants are allowed to proceed, would be to inflict incalculable damage.
The defendants have appeared by their counsel, and, by their demurrer
filed, admit that all the statements of the amended petition are true;
but they take the position that, even if they are doing the unlawful
acts that they are charged with doing, still this court has no right to
interfere with them, because they say that what they are doing is a
crime, by the State law of this State, and that for the commission of a
crime they can only be tried by a jury in a court having criminal juris­
diction. It will be observed that the defendants do not claim to have
the right to do what the injunction forbids them doing. Their learned
counsel even quotes the statute to show that it is a crime to do so.
But he contends that the Constitution of the United States and the
constitution of the State of Missouri guarantee them the right to com­
mit crime, with only this limitation, to wit, that they shall answer for
the crime, when committed, in a criminal court, before a jury, and that
to restrain them from committing crime is to rob them of their consti­
tutional right of trial by jury. If that position be correct, then there
can be no valid statute to prevent crime. But that position is contrary
to all reason. The right of trial by jury does not arise until the party
is accused of having already committed the crime. If you see a man
advancing upon another with murderous demeanor and a deadly weapon,
and you arrest him—disarm him—you have perhaps prevented an act
which would have brought about a trial by jury, but can you be said
to have deprived him of his constitutional right of trial by jury ? The
train of thought put in motion by the argument of the learned counsel
for defendants on this point leads only to this end, to wit, that the Con­
stitution guarantees to every man the right to commit crime, so that he
may enjoy the inestimable right of trial by jury.
Passing now to the question relating to the particular jurisdiction of
a court of equity, we are brought to face the proposition that a court of
equity has no criminal jurisdiction, and will not interfere by injunction
to prevent the commission of a crime. These two propositions are firmly
established; and as to the first, that a court of equity has no criminal
jurisdiction, there is no exception. As to the second, that a court of
equity will not interfere by injunction to prevent the commission of a
crime, that, too, is perhaps without exception, when properly interpreted,
but it is sometimes misinterpreted. When we say that a court of equity
will never interfere by injunction to prevent the commission of a crime,
we mean that it will not do so simply for the purpose of preventing a
violation of a criminal law. But when the act complained of threatens
an irreparable injury to the property of an individual a court of equity




442

BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

will interfere to prevent tliat injury, notwithstanding the act may also
be a violation of a criminal law. In such case the court does not inter­
fere to prevent the commission of a crime, although that may inciden­
tally result, but it exerts its force to protect the individual’s property
from destruction, and ignores entirely the criminal portion of the act.
There can be no doubt of the jurisdiction of a court of equity in such a
case.
Equity will not interfere when there is an adequate remedy at law.
But what remedy does the law afford that would be adequate to the
plaintiff's’ injury? How would their damages be estimated? How com­
pensated? The defendants’ learned counsel cites us to the criminal
statute, but how will that remedy the plaintiffs’ injury? A criminal
prosecution does not propose to remedy a private wrong.
What a humiliating thought it would be if these defendants were
really attempting to do what the amended petition charges, and what
their demurrer confesses—that is, to destroy the business of these
plaintiffs, and to force the eight or nine hundred men, women, boys, and
girls, who are earning their livings in the plaintiffs’ employ, to quit
their work against their will—and yet there is no law in the land to
protect them. The injunction in this case does not hinder the defendants
doing anything that they claim they have a right to do. They are free
men, and have a right to quit the employ of the plaintiffs whenever they
see fit to do so, and no one can prevent them; and whether their act of
quitting is wise or unwise, just or unjust, it is nobody’s business but
their own. And they have a right to use fair persuasion to induce others
to join them in their quitting. But when fair persuasion is exhausted
they have no right to resort to force or threats of violence. The law
will protect their freedom and their rights, but it will not permit them
to destroy the freedom and rights of others. The same law which guar­
antees the defendants in their right to quit the employment of the
plaintiffs at their own will and pleasure also guarantees the other
employees the right to remain at their will and pleasure. These
defendants are their own masters, but they are not the masters of the
other employees, and not only are they not the masters of the other
employees, but they are not even their guardians. There is a maxim
of our law to the effect that one may exercise his own right as he
pleases, provided that he does not thereby prevent another exercising
his right as he pleases. This maxim or rule of law comes nearer than
any other rule in our law to the golden rule of Divine authority: “ That
which you would have another do unto you, do you even so unto them.”
Whilst the strict enforcement of the golden rule is beyond the mandate
of a human tribunal, yet courts of equity, by injunction, do restrain
men who are so disposed from so exercising their own rights as to
destroy the rights of others.