RECENT FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

AUSTRIA.

Die Arbeitseinstellungen und Aussperrungen im Gewerbebetriebe in Österreich während des Jahres 1896. Herausgegeben vom Statistischen Departement im k. k. Handelsministerium. 333 pp.

This report on strikes and lockouts during the year 1896, published by the bureau of statistics of the board of trade of Austria, constitutes the sixth annual presentation of official strike statistics for that country. Those for the preceding years were reviewed in Bulletins Nos. 1, 3, and 10. The facts are presented in a series of six tables, containing (1) strikes according to geographical distribution, (2) strikes according to branches of industry, (3) general summary of strikes, (4) comparative figures for 1894, 1895, and 1896, (5) a description of each individual strike, and (6) a description of each lockout.

STRIKES. A comparison of the strike statistics for 1896 with those for the preceding year shows an increase in the number of strikes, strikers, establishments involved, and time lost.

The following table shows the number of strikes, etc., for each of the six years, 1891 to 1896:

Of the total num

The number of strikes, establishments involved, strikers, etc., in 1896, is shown by industries in the table following. ber of strikers reported in 1896, 75.83 per cent were employed in the stone, glass, china, and earthen ware industries, metal and metallic goods, wooden and caoutchouc goods, textiles, and the building trades.

The following table shows the percentage of strikers and of days lost for each of the five principal groups in detail, and for the other industries collectively:

PERCENTAGE OF STRIKERS AND OF DAYS LOST, BY INDUSTRIES, 1894, 1895, AND 1836.

The textile industry shows the highest percentage of strikers and of days lost during 1896, namely, 27.11 per cent and 39.44 per cent, respectively. With the exception of wooden and caoutchouc goods, this industry also shows the largest number of strikes.

The table following shows the duration of strikes in 1896, by industries. Of the total number of strikes in 1896, 193, or 65.65 per cent, lasted but 10 days or less, while 17, or 5.78 per cent, continued for more than 60 days. The longest strike lasted 191 days. The average duration of strikes was 15.18 days.

In presenting the strikes by causes, the cause and not the strike is made the unit, and the tabulations, therefore, show the number of times that each cause figured as an incentive to a strike, regardless of the actual number of strikes. Thus, in 1896 there were 294 strikes reported, but 354 causes were enumerated. The following table shows the causes of strikes, by industries:

The most prevalent cause of strikes in 1896 was the demand for increase of wages, being 137, or 38.70 per cent of all causes. Next in importance was the demand for reduction of hours, 66, or 18.64 per cent of all, being due to this cause.

The following table shows the degree of success or failure of the strikes in 1896, classified according to industries:

RESULTS OF STRIKES IN 1896, BY INDUSTRIES.

Of the strikes in 1896, 64 were successful, 107 were partially successful, and 123 were failures. Of the strikers, 3,046 succeeded, 22,314 succeeded partly, and 10,754 failed.

LOCKOUTS.-During the year 1896 lockouts were reported in 211 establishments, employing 6,847 persons, of whom 5,445 were locked out. The prevailing cause of lockouts was the observance of Labor Day (May 1) by employees. Of the 5,445 employees locked out, 4,589 were reemployed, 720 were dismissed, and the others failed to return.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Report on Changes in the Employment of Women and Girls in Industrial Centers. Part I, Flax and Jute Centers. 1898. iv, 113 pp. (Published by the Labor Department of the British Board of Trade.) This report was prepared by Miss Collet, one of the labor correspondents of the labor department of the British Board of Trade. It is intended as a continuation of the Report on the Statistics of Employment of Women, published in 1895, and which was reviewed in Bulletin No. 1. The aim of this work has been to bring together in convenient form the most important information regarding the conditions of labor of women and girls at various periods of the present century which is contained in official reports, and to supplement this informa

tion by fresh inquiry with reference to special points. The sources of information which were most utilized in this volume were the reports of the commissioners and assistant commissioners on the employment of children in factories in 1833, the reports of the commissioners and assistant commissioners on hand-loom weavers in 1838, the factory returns published at intervals from 1835 to 1897, the wages returns of the Board of Trade, and the census reports. In addition, statistics of wages in Dundee in 1896 and in Belfast in 1897 were obtained for the purpose of comparison with wages in those cities in 1833.

The discussion in the present volume relates to the flax and jute industries in the East of Scotland and the flax industry in the North of Ireland and in Yorkshire, England. It is intended to assist in the further study of women's employment, and throws much light upon the questions of the transition from the domestic to the factory system of industry, married women's labor, and the relation of women's and men's work, both as regards character and remuneration at various periods. The principal changes regarding women's employment dealt with in this report are: (1) Changes in organization, with special reference to the different ways in which men and women were affected; (2) changes in wages; (3) changes in the relative numbers of men and women in the industries and in the districts; (4) changes in the extent of employment of married women; (5) changes in occupation.

The following table, arranged from the appendix, shows the extent of employment in the flax and jute industries, by sex and certain age periods, at various times from 1835 to 1895, the tables in the appendix being compiled from the British Factory Returns:

EMPLOYEES IN FLAX AND JUTE FACTORIES IN SCOTLAND, 1835 TO 1895.