TENNESSEE.

Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor, Statistics, and Mines of the State of Tennessee, for the year ending December 31, 1897. A. D. Hargis, Commissioner. xii, 270 pp.

The contents of this report may be grouped as follows: Statistics of mines and mine inspection, 228 pages; the phosphate industry, 13 pages; the marble industry, 5 pages; the petroleum industry, 6 pages; labor conditions, 10 pages; chronology of labor bureaus, 2 pages.

STATISTICS OF MINES AND MINE INSPECTION.-This report, like that for the preceding year, is devoted almost exclusively to the mining industry. The statistics relate to the production of coal, coke, iron ore, pig iron, zinc, lead, and copper. The amount and value of mine products are shown for each branch of the industry, and in some instances comparative figures are given for Tennessee and other States and for present and past periods. In the case of coal mining the number of employees and days in operation are also shown. Following is a summary of the most important figures presented for 1897:

Forty-one casualties were reported in the mines, 13 of which were fatal. Of the fatal accidents, 10 occurred in coal mines, 2 in an iron mine, and 1 in a copper mine.

THE PHOSPHATE INDUSTRY.-A review is given of the condition and progress of this industry during the year, together with a list of the principal phosphate mines, showing the location of the deposits, and tables showing the production for a series of years. The produc tion of phosphate in 1897 was 121,229 tons.

THE MARBLE INDUSTRY.--The production of Tennessee marble in 1897 was about 235,000 cubic feet, the total production, including the finished product, being valued at about $500,000.

PETROLEUM.-Since 1894, 48 petroleum wells have been drilled, 16 of which were abandoned, while but 6 were considered producers.

LABOR CONDITIONS.-This part of the report contains a brief account of the strikes in mines during 1897 and a directory of labor unions in Tennessee. Fifteen strikes were reported, 14 of which involved a total of about 1,945 persons.

RECENT FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

FRANCE.

Statistique des Grèves et des Recours à la Conciliation et à l'Arbitrage Survenus Pendant l'Année 1897. Office du Travail, Ministère du Commerce, de l'Industrie, des Postes et des Télégraphes. xv, 304 pp.

This report is one of a series of annual reports on strikes published by the French bureau of labor. The information is for the year 1897 and is presented in the same form as in preceding reports, the present digest following as nearly as possible the plan of former notices in Bulletins Nos. 1, 5, and 13.

There were 356 strikes reported in 1897, one of which, however, was of the nature of a lockout. These strikes affected 2,568 establish ments, were participated in by 68,875 strikers, and resulted in a loss of 780,944 working days, including 60,433 days lost by 5,999 persons who were not strikers but were thrown out of employment as the result of strikes. The average time lost per strike was 10 days, the smallest average reported in five years.

In 1896 there were reported 476 strikes and 49,851 strikers, involving 2,178 establishments, and causing a loss of 644,168 working days, or 13 days per striker. While in 1897 there was a smaller number of strikes, the number of strikers and the number of working days lost were considerably greater than in 1896. The decrease in the number of strikes is due to the large number of strikes reported in the textile industries in 1896, when there were 197, as compared with 82 in 1897.

As regards the results in 1897, 68 strikes in 237 establishments, involv ing 19,838 strikers, were successful; 122 strikes in 1,564 establishments, involving 28,767 strikers, were partly successful, and 166 strikes in 767 establishments, involving 20,270 strikers, failed. While the number of successful strikes in 1897 was smaller than in 1896, the number of strikers in strikes which succeeded was much greater.

The following table shows the per cent of strikes of total strikes and the per cent of strikers of total strikers that succeeded, succeeded partly, and failed, as compared with similar data for 1896:

It will be seen that the proportion of strikes which failed as well as the proportion of strikers involved in such strikes was smaller in 1897 than in 1896. Both the proportion of strikes compromised and that of strikers participating in the same were considerably greater in 1897 than in the preceding year. The proportion of successful strikes was smaller, but that of strikers involved was greater in 1897 than in 1896. On the whole, therefore, much more success was achieved by strikers in 1897 than in 1896.

Of the 356 strikes reported, 276, or 78 per cent, involved but 1 establishment each. Of the 80 remaining strikes, 22 involved from 2 to 5 establishments, 20 from 6 to 10, 14 from 11 to 25, 6 from 26 to 50, 4 from 51 to 100, and 4 strikes involved over 100 establishments each. In the case of 10 strikes the number of establishments was not reported.

The two following tables show the number of strikes, strikers, and establishments involved, according to the results of the strikes, as well as the number of days' work lost and the proportion that the number of strikers is to the total number of working people, according to 17 groups of industries:

STRIKES IN 1897, BY INDUSTRIES.

Succeeded.

Estab

Succeeded
partly.

Estab

Failed.

Estab

Estab

Strikes. lish- Strikes. lish- Strikes. lish- Strikes. lish

1

ments.

ments.

nients.

ments.

Total.

55

16

4

4

1

Printing.

31

237

122

1,564

STRIKERS AND DAYS OF WORK LOST IN 1897, BY INDUSTRIES.

Out of a total of 356 strikes, the largest number, 82, or 23 per cent, occurred in the textile industry. If, however. the extent of the strikes is measured by the number of persons involved, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries far exceeded any other group of industries. Of a total of 68,875 persons engaged in strikes, 21,082, or 31 per cent, were employed in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Next in importance were the building trades, showing 16,870, or 24 per cent of the total persons involved; the textile industry, with 8,674 strikers, and the mining industry, with 6,655.

Considering the number of persons actually engaged in the various industries, according to census returns, it was found that the relative prevalence of strikes was greatest in the mining and quarrying industries, 47.22 out of every 1,000 employees having taken part in trade disputes during the year. The building trades came next, with 34.96 strikers per 1,000 employees.

In the two following tables the strike data are presented by causes:

STRIKES IN 1897, BY CAUSES.

[A considerable number of strikes were due to two or three causes, and the facts in such cases have been tabulated under each cause. Hence the totals for this table necessarily would not agree with those for the preceding tables.]

STRIKERS AND DAYS OF WORK LOST IN 1897, BY CAUSES.

[A considerable number of strikes were due to two or three causes, and the facts in such cases have been tabulated under each cause. Hence the totals for this table necessarily would not agree with those for the preceding tables.]

Strikes for higher wages or against a reduction of wages, either alone or in connection with some other cause, were more prevalent and involved a larger number of strikers than strikes for any other reasons.