WORK AND WAGES OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN.

The Eleventh Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, entitled Work and Wages of Men, Women, and Children, comprehends the results of an investigation relative to the comparative employment of men, women, and children at two periods of time, and is made in accordance with a joint resolution of Congress approved August 1, 1894, as follows: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioner of Labor be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed "to investigate and make report upon the conditions attending the employment of women and children; their wages, earnings, sanitary surroundings, and cost of living; the effect of various employments upon their health and longevity; what measures are taken to protect their physical condition and to protect them from accidents; the rates of wages paid them in comparison with the rates paid men; and the effect, if any, their employment has had upon the wages and employment of men: Provided, That the investigation hereby authorized shall be carried out under the regular appropriations made for the Department of Labor." Under the proviso that the above investigation should be carried out under the regular appropriations for the Department of Labor, the officers of the Department were obliged to leave out some of the features authorized. The Fourth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor dealt with the sanitary surroundings and cost of living of women, and to some extent with the measures taken to protect their physical condition. It did not seem wise, therefore, to spend money at the present time in collecting further information upon such topics. So the investigation undertaken, the results of which are shown in the Eleventh Annual Report, covers more specifically the employment and wages of women and children in comparison with the employment and wages of men in like occupations, how far women and children are superseding men, and the relative efficiency of men, women, and children when employed in doing like work.

237

The difficulties surrounding the collection of information where such comparisons as those indicated are to be made are very great, and of course it was impossible to cover the whole country-that is, to collect information from all industrial establishments; yet the attempt was made, with fair success, to secure data from a sufficiently large number of representative establishments and persons and from nearly all the States in which mechanical industries are prominent. The agents of the Department secured information, through the schedule method, from 1,067 establishments of various kinds, located in 30 different States. A total of 42,990 males and 51,539 females, or an aggregate of 94,529 persons in all, were found employed in these establishments during the former period; and 68,380 males and 79,987 females, or an aggregate of 148,367 persons, during the present period. By "present period" in this report is meant some week in the period during which the canvass was made-that is, the years 1895 and 1896; and by "former period" is meant some week antedating by at least ten years the week selected in 1895 or 1896. To present this class of information seven general tables were necessary. These tables are taken up separately and their chief points explained.

Table I.-Occupations and earnings of women and children, and of men, by industries and States.-The different establishments from whose pay rolls and officials information was secured in this investigation are given in this table, classified according to industries and States. For each establishment are given the occupations in detail, with extended information as to the sex, age, and weekly earnings of the employees: First, for what has been designated as the "former period," and second, for what has been designated as the "present period." Unless otherwise stated, the facts given comprise in each case information as to all the employees of the establishment, and so far as wages are concerned the information was taken directly from pay rolls, while the data relating to the age and efficiency of employees were secured from the proprietor himself, or from a foreman, bookkeeper, or some other responsible employee designated by the proprietor. The data for each occupation in each establishment comprise information as to the number of employees, male and female, classified as to age, as "18 years or over" or "under 18 years," whether working by time or piece, and their highest, lowest, and average earnings for the selected week at different periods, which periods, it should be borne in mind, have been termed, for brevity's sake, the "former period" and the "present period," each covering one week's pay roll, the former period being at least ten years prior to the present period. The facts for each of these periods are placed in juxtaposition in the tables and afford a ready comparison as to the conditions at the two periods.

Considerable difficulty was experienced by the agents of the Department in securing accurate information as to the earnings for a full week, owing to the fact that many employees were not working full

time, although no note of it was to be found on the pay rolls. This was especially true of pieceworkers, of whose time no record was kept. Every effort was made, however, to secure earnings for a full week, and it is believed that this has been done quite generally in the case of time workers. In the case of pieceworkers the same effort was made, and although the assurance of full weekly earnings-that is, earnings for a full week's work-was had in most cases, still there is some reason to doubt the absolute accuracy of this assurance because of the fact that no record of time was usually kept in such cases, but merely the quantity of work performed and the earnings for the same. In every case of doubt the establishment was entirely dropped from consideration, and does not, therefore, appear in the report.

The following tables show a comparison of the persons employed at the two periods, subdivided as to sex and as to whether 18 years of age or over or under 18 years of age:

PERSONS EMPLOYED AT THE TWO PERIODS, BY STATES.

[Cne hundred and thirty-six establishments from which complete data could not be secured have been excluded from consideration in this table.]

From this table have been excluded, necessarily, all establishments for which complete information as to age was not given. The number of establishments included in the table is 931, situated in 27 different States. The table shows that in the 931 establishments furnishing complete information 26,479 males 18 years of age or over were employed in the former period as against 43,195 in the present period;

4,175 males under 18 years of age were employed in the former, 7,540 being employed in the present period. So far as females are concerned, those 18 years of age or over numbered 27,163 in the former as against 45,162 in the present period, and those under 18 years of age numbered 6,743 in the former as against 12,751 in the present period. Similar details for the establishments located in each of the 27 States are shown by this table.

PERSONS EMPLOYED AT THE TWO PERIODS, BY INDUSTRIES.

[One hundred and thirty-six establishments from which complete data could not be secured have been excluded from consideration in this table.]

volved. 18 years Under 18 years Under 18 years Under 18 years Under or over. 18 years. or over. 18 years or over. 18 years. or over. 18 years.

volved. 18 years Under 18 years Under 18 years Under 18 years Under or over. 18 years. or over. 18 years. or over. 18 years. or over. 18 years.

34

70

34

73

110

48

166

16

55

468

64

62

11

20

21

530

465

This table is similar in form to the preceding one, and includes the facts for the same establishments arranged by industries. For the sake of brevity the specific industry headings as given in Table I of the report are here so grouped as to bring together establishments engaged in a similar class of work.

In order that these facts may be more clearly brought out, and the comparison be made more easy, the following tables have been drawn from the two preceding ones, showing the increase and per cent of increase of persons employed at the two periods.