all other public charges paid by these roads in 1896 amovaced to $527,456.32. It is estimated that the three roads should, have paid $877,148.82 for taxes alone at the low valuation of other property in the business districts of the city. The general taxes actually paid amounted to $253,376, or 2.12 per cent of the gross receipts. The gross receipts of the three roads during the year were $11,941,524.

The chapter on telephones contains a short sketch of the develop ment of the telephone industry and the earnings realized on the same. The company which has the monopoly in Chicago had in 1895 a capital stock of $3,796,000. Its net earnings were $542,839, and its dividends amounted to $445,544. It pays the city 3 per cent of its gross receipts. In 1895 this payment amounted to $37,562.

TAXATION.-This chapter is devoted to an analysis of the report of a tax commission appointed by the mayor of Chicago, which report is intended to show the ratio of assessed value to estimated market value of property in the central part of the city. The commission consisted of three real estate experts and two practical builders, and it made its report April 25, 1896. Detailed tables are presented showing the property valuation of the commission side by side with that of the assessor for each of the fifty highest and the fifty lowest assessed properties and for each of the properties included in the territory covered by the commission's investigation. Attention is also directed to the discriminating effect of the present method of equalizing taxes as between high and low assessed properties.

The territory covered by the commission includes all that is situated in the south division north of Twelfth street. The commission placed the market value of all this property (exclusive of property exempt from taxation) at $438,447,180, of which $337,342,880 was land value and $101,104,300 the value of the improvements. In the assessor's returns for the year 1895 the same property was valued at $40,668,720, of which $24,726,880 represented land and $15,941,840 improvements. The value of land and improvements exempted from taxation, not including city and National Government property, was $22,236,250. The value of railroad property in the district investigated by the commission was found to be $62,585,660.

GAS COMPANIES.-This part of the report contains copies of the acts incorporating the various gas companies in Chicago and a detailed account of their development, of the expansion of their capitalization, and of the profits realized before and after the formation of the gas trust in 1887.

The report states that the properties of the four Chicago gas companies constituting the trust, which can be duplicated for $15,000,000, are capitalized for $51,346,000. Of this, $25,000,000 is in the form of trust certificates and $26,346,000 in bonds. It is estimated that the trust realizes a profit of 5.03 per cent on its full capitalization, or 17.21 per cent on the actual capital of $15,000,000. The total market value

of the securities of these four companies is quoted at $44,726,200. As to the assessed valuation, figures could be obtained for only three of the four companies. The market value of the securities of these three companies amounted to $38,950,160, while the equalized assessed valuation was $1,164,498, or 2.99 per cent of the real value. The actual taxes paid amounted to $100,146, while the taxes paid for other business property of the same value amounted to $371,818.

MAINE.

Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics for the State of Maine. 1896. Samuel W. Matthews, Commissioner. 242 PP.

The subject-matter of this report may be grouped as follows: Manufacturers' returns, 22 pages; factories, mills, and shops built during 1896, 4 pages; strikes and lockouts in Maine, 1887-1894, 14 pages; reports on the history and development of the tannery, earthenware, starch, ax and scythe, and steel shipbuilding industries, 81 pages; railroad employees and wages, 3 pages; extracts from the report of the proceedings of the twelfth annual convention of the National Association of Officials of Bureaus of Labor Statistics, 77 pages; labor laws of Maine, 11 pages; report of the inspector of factories, workshops, mines, and quarries, 14 pages.

MANUFACTURERS' RETURNS.-This investigation covers 126 establishments, representing 25 industries. The principal results are shown in the following table:

The returns for 1896, when compared with those for the preceding year, are, on the whole, unfavorable and indicate a decline in business activity. Of the 25 industries reported, 18 showed a decrease in the cost of material used, 6 an increase, while 1 showed no change. As to value of product, 15 showed a decrease, 9 an increase, and 1 no change. The total wage list was smaller in 17 industries and larger in 8. In 12 industries a decrease in the days in operation was shown, in 4 an increase, and in 9 no change. The number of hands employed in 1896 was greater in 3 industries, smaller in 17, and the same in 5 industries. The changes in the rates of wages since 1895 were very slight, most of the establishments reporting no change.

FACTORIES, MILLS, AND SHOPS BUILT DURING 1896.-The amount expended in building, repairing, and enlarging factories, mills, and shops in 1896 was $1,055,900, or $311,900 less than in 1895. There was also a decrease in the number of such buildings from 102 in 1895 to 77 in 1896, and in the number of persons employed in this work from 2,797 in 1895 to 1,470 in 1896.

STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS IN MAINE, 1887-1894.-This chapter consists of extracts from the Tenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF VARIOUS INDUSTRIES.-This consists of a series of five articles on the tannery, earthenware, starch, ax and scythe, and steel shipbuilding industries, respectively. The lastnamed article contains illustrations of vessels and machinery built in the State.

RAILROAD EMPLOYEES.-This consists of a presentation of returns made by 22 railroad companies doing business in the State on the employment of labor and wages paid in 1896, and a comparison of these returns with those for the preceding year. The returns for 1896 show a total of 5,792 employees, exclusive of general officers, and a total wage list amounting to $2,763,353.93. In 1895 there were 4,693 employees and a wage list amounting to $2,268,357.86. One additional railroad was reported in 1896.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor. March, 1896. Horace G. Wadlin, Chief. xvii, 748 pp.

This report treats of the following subjects: Part I, relation of the liquor traffic to pauperism, crime, and insanity, 416 pages; Part II, graded weekly wages, 292 pages; Part III, labor chronology, 1895, 40 pages.

RELATION OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC TO PAUPERISM, CRIME, AND INSANITY. This part of the report was previously published under separate cover, and a digest of it appeared in Bulletin No. 8.

GRADED WEEKLY WAGES.-The treatment of this subject by the

bureau is so extensive that only a small portion of the statistics are included in the present volume. The quotations of graded weekly wages are arranged alphabetically, according to occupations, and the present report includes only such as appear under the letters A, B, and C. Future reports will continue the tables throughout the alphabet. This subject will then be followed by statistics of "Graded Prices in Massachusetts, other United States, and Foreign Countries."

In the present report the statistical tables are preceded by extracts from previous reports of the Massachusetts Bureau, which relate to the subjects of wages and prices.

The total number of quotations used in the statistics of graded weekly wages and prices is, in round numbers, 656,000, of which the wage quotations number 489,600, and the price quotations, 166,400. The following statement shows the distribution by States and countries of the wage and price quotations:

WAGE AND PRICE QUOTATIONS FOR MASSACHUSETTS, OTHER UNITED STATES, AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

The number of employees represented in the wage quotations is not stated. One quotation may represent a single individual or several thousands. The quotations in the aggregate can not represent less than 500,000 employees, but they may cover five, ten, fifteen, or even twenty millions of employees. The quotations extend over the period from 1810 to 1891.

The statistical tables of graded weekly wages show the sex of the employees, the years when the wages were paid, the grade of wages, whether high, medium high, medium, medium low, or low, and the weekly wages in dollars and cents. These are arranged according to occupations and States and countries. A digest of the statistical information can not be made until the complete data relating to graded weekly wages have been published.

LABOR CHRONOLOGY, 1895.-This chapter contains a list of impor tant acts of labor organizations and of other events relating to hours of labor, wages, and trades unions during the year, arranged according to subjects and in chronological order, a history of trades unions, and an abstract of labor laws passed in 1896.

OHIO.

Twentieth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Ohio, for the Year 1895. Transmitted to the Seventy-second General Assembly January 4, 1897. William Ruehrwein, Commissioner. 420 pp.

The following subjects are treated in this report: Introduction, 3 pages; a wonderful factory system, 4 pages; coal mining, 16 pages; rolling mills, 68 pages; blast furnaces, 24 pages; manufactures, 258 pages: free employment offices, 23 pages; labor laws passed by the eventy-second general assembly, 1896, 12 pages.

A WONDERFUL FACTORY SYSTEM.-Under this title is given a description of a system of management adopted by a large manufacturIng establishment located at Dayton, and which is becoming generally krown as the "Dayton plan." By this system the services of a superintendent are dispensed with, and the management of the various departments is placed in the hands of committees composed of officials and ployees. Various other features are added by which it is claimed Lat the interests of both employers and employees are materially advanced.

COAL MINING.-The information presented in this and the three Seeding chapters was obtained partly by mail and partly by special agents who made personal inquiries. The tables presenting statistics of coal mines show, by counties, the quantity of coal mined, its value, amount paid for mining and for day labor, the number of days worked during the year, miners employed, wages of mine employees, and other information of interest to the coal industry.

ROLLING MILLS.-Tables are given showing the kind of mill and amber of each, average days mills were in operation, production, relaths of production to total capacity, number of employees, hours of Labor, and daily wages of employees. Returns from 214 mills showed a total production of 1,569,596 tons, which was 81 per cent of their total capacity.

BLAST FURNACES.-Twenty-five establishments making returns ed a total capital of $5,887,600 invested in blast furnaces. The Laterials used cost $6,852,963, and the value of the product, including estimated value of product on hand July 1, 1896, was $8,842,016. Wages of employees to the amount of $956,774 were paid, and the

expended for salaries of officials and clerks was $141,032. The Let earnings were 14.4 per cent on the capital invested. Tables are gen showing the occupations of 2,659 employees, the average number of days worked, the average yearly earnings, and the average number of hours per day for each occupation.

MANUFACTURES.-Detailed statistics of manufactures are presented by cities, towns, and for the State. The tables show the amount of capital invested, the value of materials used and of goods made, the